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CALIFORNIA 
FISH-GAME 

"CONSERVATION  OF  WILDLIFE  THROUGH  EDUCATION" 


VOLUME  48  OCTOBER,  1962  NUMBER  4 


California  Fish  and  Game  is  a  journal  devoted  to  the  con- 
servation of  wildlife.  Its  contents  may  be  reproduced  elsewhere 
provided  credit  is  given  the  authors  and  the  California  Depart- 
ment of  Fish  and  Game. 

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scribers are  asked  to  report  changes  in  address  without  delay. 

Please  direct  correspondence  to: 

JOHN  E.  FITCH,  Editor 
State  Fisheries  Laboratory 
511  Tuna  Street 
Terminal  Island,  California 

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Division,  Documents  Section. 


u 


D 


V 


VOLUME  48 


OCTOBER,  1962 


NUMBER  4 


Published  Quarterly  by 

THE  RESOURCES  AGENCY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

CALIFORNIA  DEPARTMENT  OF  FISH  AND  GAME 

SACRAMENTO 


STATE  OF  CALIFORNIA 

EDMUND   G.   BROWN,  Governor 

THE  RESOURCES  AGENCY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

WILLIAM   H.  WARNE,  Administrator 


FISH  AND  GAME  COMMISSION 

WILLIAM   P.   ELSER,  President,  San  Diego 

JAMIE   H.   SMITH,  Vice  President  HENRY  CLINESCHMIDT,  Member 

Los  Angeles  Redding 


DANTE  J.    NOMELLINI,  Member 
Stockton 


THOMAS  H.  RICHARDS,  JR.,  Member 
Sacramento 


DEPARTMENT  OF  FISH  AND  GAME 

WALTER  T.  SHANNON,  Di'recfor 

OFFICE— FISH  AND  GAME  COMMISSION 

722  Capitol  Avenue 

Sacramento  14 


1001  Jedsmith  Drive 
Sacramento 

1234  East  Shaw  Avenue 
Fresno 

627  Cypress  Street 
Redding 


OFFICES— DEPARTMENT  OF  FISH  AND  GAME 

722  Capitol  Avenue 

Sacramento  14 

Ferry  Building 
San  Francisco 

217  West  First  Street 
Los  Angeles 

51 1  Tuna  Street 
Terminal  Island 

407  West  Line  Street 
Bishop 


271   Tyler  Street 
Monterey 

619  Second  Street 
Eureka 

Room  12,  North  Ramp 

Broadway  Pier  Building 

San  Diego 


CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 
Editorial  Staff 

JOHN    E.    FITCH,    Editor-in-Chief  

DAVID   P.  BORGESON,   Editor  for   Inland    Fisheries 

ALBERT  E.   NAYLOR,  Editor  for  Game  

JOHN   L.   BAXTER,   Editor  for  Marine  Resources       

DONALD  H.  FRY,  JR.,  Editor  for  Salmon  and  Steelhead 


Terminal    Island 
Sacramento 

Sacramento 

-Terminal   Island 
Sacramento 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS     v 

Page 

A  Sea  Urchin,  a  Lobster  and  a  Fish,  New  to  the  Marine  Fauna  of 
California John  E.  Fitch     216 

The  Southern  California  Mackerel  Fishery  and  Age  Composition 
of  the  Pacific  Mackerel  Catch  for  the  1958-59  Season 

Harold  Hyatt     222 

California  Sea  Lion  Census  for  1958,  1960  and  1961 

¥m.  Ellis  Ripley,  Keith  W.  Cox  and  John  L.  Baxter     228 

Age  and  Length  Composition  of  the  Sardine  Catch  off  the  Pacific 
Coast  of  the  United  States  and  Mexico  in  1959-60 

Doyle  E.  Gates  and  Robert  S.  Wolf     232 

The  Nesting  of  Chromis  punctipinnis  (Cooper)  and  a  Description 
of  Their  Eggs  and  Larvae 

Charles  H.  Turner  and  Earl  E.  Ebert     243 

The  Nesting  Behavior,  Eggs  and  Larvae  of  the  Bluespot  Goby 

Earl  E.  Ebert  and  Charles  H.  Turner     249 

Estimating  the  Number  of  Angling  License  Purchasers 

Norman  J.  Abramson    253 

Potential  Profits  in  the  California  Salmon  Fishery 

Donald  H.  Fry,  Jr.     256 

The  Response  of  Browse  Plants  to  Fertilization 

E.  P.  Gibbens  and  Rex  D.  Pieper    268 

Note 

The  Occurrence  and  Distinction  of  Threadfin  Shad  in  Southern 
California  Ocean  Waters James  C.  Thomas     282 

Retirement 

Richard  S.  Croker 284 

William  C.  LaMarr 285 

Reviews  286 

Index   289 


(215) 

-69171 


A  SEA  URCHIN,  A  LOBSTER  AND  A  FISH,  NEW  TO  THE 
MARINE  FAUNA  OF  CALIFORNIA1 

JOHN   E.   FITCH 

Marine  Resources  Operations 

California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game 

Radovieh  (1961)  reported  upon  11  southern  species  of  fish  that  were 
new  to  the  marine  fauna  of  California.  These  had  strayed  north  during 
the  warm-water  years  1957,  1958,  and  1959.  The  lobster  and  the  fish 
being  reported  in  this  paper  probably  arrived  in  California  during  the 
same  period  and  on  the  same  northerly  moving  currents  that  brought 
many  of  the  species  discussed  by  Radovieh  to  our  shores.  The  sea  urchin, 
on  the  other  hand,  may  have  arrived  during  an  earlier  influx  of  warm 
water  from  the  south. 

CLUB-SPINED  URCHIN,  EUCIDARIS  THOUARSII  (VALENCIENNES) 

(Figure  1) 

During  the  first  week  of  January  1958,  Mr.  Al  Hanson,  an  experi- 
enced diver  from  Avalon,  Santa  Catalina  Island,  saw  a  large  urchin 
that  he  did  not  recognize  while  he  was  diving  in  70  feet  of  water  off 
St.  Catherines  Bay,  just  above  Avalon.  He  collected  the  specimen  and 
took  it  home  where  he  meticulously  tied  each  spine  to  its  nearest  neigh- 
bor in  such  a  way  that  when  dried  every  spine  remained  erect  and 
evenly  spaced.  When  it  no  longer  smelled,  he  sent  it  to  the  California 
State  Fisheries  Laboratory  where  it  was  identified  as  a  club-spined 
urchin,  a  determination  that  was  later  verified  by  Mr.  Fred  Ziesenhenne 
of  the  Allan  Hancock  Foundation. 

Mortensen  (1928)  reported  that  club-spined  urchins  live  in  tropical 
waters  between  Baja  California  (Cape  San  Lucas)  and  Panama  and 
at  the  Galapagos  Islands,  from  the  intertidal  zone  to  depths  of  about 
150  feet  (45  meters).  He  stated  that  they  are  mainly  a  littoral  form, 
moving  into  the  open  at  night  to  feed.  At  Espiritu  Santo  Island  in  the 
(Jidf  of  California  they  are  considered  enemies  of  pearl  oysters.  Since 
Mortensen  found  mostly  mollusk  shell  fragments  in  their  alimentary 
tracts  he  believed  the  accounts  of  their  predation  on  pearl  oysters  and 
other  shelled  mollusks  were  true.  Club-spined  urchins  in  turn  are 
sometimes  attacked  by  fishes,  probably  wrasses,  triggerfishos  and  simi- 
lar toothsome  species.  The  larvae  of  these  and  most  other  urchins  arc 
pelagic  and  may  drift  many  miles  on  the  prevailing  ocean  currents 
before  settling  down  for  an  adult  existence.  The  test  of  the  largest 
club-spined  urchin  encountered  by  Mortensen  was  65  mm  across. 

Ziesenhenne  (personal  communication)  informed  me  that  among 
more  than  200  lots  in  the  Allan  Hancock  Foundation  collection,  the 
northernmost  is  from  Consag  Rock  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  California. 


1  Submitted  for  publication  January  196  2. 

I  216  I 


ADDITIONS   TO    MARINE    FAUNA 


217 


FIGURE    1.      Club-spined    urchin,   Eucidaris   thouarsii,  from   70   feet   of   water   off   St.   Catherines 
Bay,  Santa  Catalina  Island,  California,  January  1958.      (Photo  by  Jack  W.  Schott.) 

Other  lots  had  come  from  as  far  south  as  La  Libertad,  Ecuador.  He 
said  Eucidaris  thouarsii  had  not  been  reported  from  the  west  coast  of 
Baja  California  but  they  had  material  in  their  collection  from  Clarion 
and  Socorro  Islands  in  the  Revilla  Gigedos  group  and  from  Guadalupe 
Island,  Baja  California,  some  270  miles  south  of  Santa  Catalina  Island. 
Their  largest  measured  67  mm,  two  more  than  Mortensen's. 

The  test  of  the  urchin  collected  by  Mr.  Hanson  (Figure  1)  was  72 
mm  in  horizontal  diameter  by  53  mm  deep.  It  had  10  rows  of  primary 
spines  with  10  spines  in  each  row,  eight  long  and  two  short.  The  longest 
spine  measured  48  by  7  mm.  Thus  the  St.  Catherines  Bay  urchin  was 
not  only  an  extension  of  the  known  northerly  range  for  the  species  and 
new  to  the  marine  fauna  of  California,  it  represented  a  new  size  record 
for  E.  thouarsii. 

Without  knowing  their  growth  rates  it  would  be  foolish  to  assign  a 
definite  date  for  the  arrival  of  Hanson's  specimen  at  Santa  Catalina 
Island  as  a  larva;  however,  it  is  interesting  to  speculate  upon  two 
possibilities.  If  the  urchin  had  arrived  during  the  first  year  of  the  most 


218  CALIFORNIA   FISH   AND   GAME 

recent  warm-water  period,  1957,  its  growth  would  have  had  to  be  phe- 
nomenal to  say  the  least.  On  the  other  hand,  the  most  likely  time  of 
entry  prior  to  1957  (1!'40  or  1!'41  )  would  attribute  a  highly  improbable 
Longevity  to  the  species. 

The  specimen  was  retained  by  Mr.  Hanson  who  has  a  small,  private 
collection  of  marine  organisms  on  display  at  Avalon. 

PINTO   LOBSTER,  PANUURUS  GRACILIS  STREET 
(Figure  2) 

On  January  17.  1961,  Mr.  Carl  A.  Magers,  Jr.,  pulled  a  lobster  trap 
he  had  set  near  the  San  Diego  harbor  breakwater  and  found  a  Lobster 
in  it  that  differed  from  any  he  had  caught  previously.  He  took  it  to  the 
local  Department  of  Fish  and  Game  office  where  it  was  identified  as  a 
pinto  lobster,  a  species  never  before  taken  in  California  waters. 

Pinto  lobsters  generally  have  been  recorded  from  tropical  waters 
bounded  by  southern  Baja  California  and  Peru  and  at  such  offshore 
islands  as  Cocos,  the  Galapagos,  Clipperton,  and  the  Revilla  Gigedos; 
however,  definite  records  for  the  extremes  of  their  range  are  difficult 
to  find. 

Johnson  (1960)  showed  alongshore  distribution  of  California  spiny 
lobsters  (P.  interruptus)  south  to  Magdalena  Bay,  Baja  California.  Al- 
though some  were  found  below  Magdalena  Bay,  these  were  generally 
offshore,  in  small  numbers,  and  in  late  stages  of  their  development. 
Larvae  of  P.  gracilis  were  intermixed  with  those  of  P.  interruptus  along 
the  Baja  California  coast  north  to  about  Pt.  Eugenia. 

During  numerous  cruises  of  Department  of  Fish  and  Game  research 
vessels,  pinto  lobster  adults  were  often  noted  intermixed  with  California 
spiny  lobsters  between  Abreojos  Point  and  Magdalena  Bay.  South  of 
Magdalena  Bay  only  pinto  lobsters  have  been  seen  or  collected  until 
reaching  the  vicinity  of  the  upper  Gulf  of  California  (Los  Angeles 
Bay,  Tiburon  Island,  Guaymas,  etc.)  where  P.  interruptus  again  art- 
encountered.  In  April  1948,  during  a  survey  of  the  Guadalupe  Island 
area  w7e  took  fair  numbers  of  P.  gracilis  in  traps  set  at  three  localities 
around  the  island.  All  were  mature  and  no  trap  yielded  any  except 
pinto  lobsters,  a  situation  that  has  never  occurred  since  1948.  In  fact, 
I  can  find  no  record  of  anyone  having  taken  a  pinto  lobster  there,  either 
before  or  since  1948 ;  the  island 's  lobster  population  is  typically  P. 
intt  rruptus. 

If  the  1948  pinto  lobster  population  had  arrived  at  Guadalupe  Island 
as  drifting  larvae  from  the  south  (the  only  plausible  explanation  for 
their  presence  there),  they  probably  were  at  least  seven  years  old,  since 
the  earliest  previous  warm-water  year  had  been  1941  (Radovich  1961). 
Johnson  (1960)  showed  that  the  larval  stages  of  P.  interruptus  drift 
for  seven  and  three-quarters  months  before  settling  to  the  bottom ; 
those  of  P.  gracilis  probably  drift  equally  as  long.  Seven  and  three- 
quarters  months  would  allow  them  more  than  enough  time  to  drift  the 
500  miles  from  their  usual  nursery  grounds  off  southern  Baja  Cali- 
fornia to  Guadalupe  Island,  even  on  a  slow,  meandering  current  (Reid 
ci  al.,  1958). 

Mr.  Mager's  pinto  lobster  (Figure  2)  was  a  male,  eight  and  one- 
quarter  inches  (209  mm)  long  from  the  center  of  the  rostrum  to  the 
'ml  of  the  tail;  its  carapace  length  (mid-rostrum  to  posterior  margin) 


ADDITIONS  TO   MARINE  FAUNA 


219 


FIGURE  2. 


Pinto  lobster,  Panulirus  gracilis,  taken  in  a  lobster  trap  off  the  San  Diego   harbor 
breakwater  January  17,  1961.      (Phoio  by  Jack  W.  Schoit.) 


was  79.5  mm.  This  catch  extended  the  known  northern  distribution 
for  the  species  by  some  400  coastwise  miles  (Abreojos  to  San  Diego) 
or  220  straight-line  miles  (Guadalupe  Island  to  San  Diego).  The 
specimen  was  sent  to  Dr.  Martin  Johnson,  Scripps  Institution  of 
Oceanography,  who  placed  it  in  their  collection. 


22(1  CALIFORNIA   FISH   AND  GAME 

PACIFIC   FAT  SLEEPER,   DORMITATOR  LATIFRONS   (RICHARDSON) 

(Figure  3) 

Mr.  Norm  Sherman  hooked  and  Landed  a  Pacific  fat  sleeper  on 
July  8,  1961,  while  he  was  fishing  from  the  rocky  shoreline  near  Palos 
Verdes  (Los  Angeles  County)  using  shrimp  for  bait.  Mr.  Sherman 
dropped  hi*  catch  into  a  metal  ice  chest  partially  filled  with  water 
and  thought  no  more  of  the  incident  until  he  was  preparing  to  depart 
for  home  and  discovered  it  was  .still  alive.  He  kept  it  alive  at  home  for 
several  days,  adding  fresh  water  as  the  level  in  the  ice  chest  fell. 
After  about  a  week,  the  water  had  become  so  foul  that  Mr.  Sherman 
felt  it  necessary  to  change  ii  ;  having  no  salt  water  handy  he  refilled 
the  ice  chest  from  a  freshwater  tap.  expecting  to  see  the  fish  .succumb 
at  any  minute.  Instead,  the  fish  survived  the  change  and  lived  for 
another  week  when  Mr.  Sherman  took  it  to  Harry's  Bait  and  Tackle. 
Playa  Del  Rev.  to  see  if  they  could  identify  it  for  him.  Mrs.  Harry 
Edilson,  wife  of  the  proprietor,  called  me  and  I  arranged  to  have  it 
picked  up  and  identified.  With  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Carl  L.  Hubbs, 
Scripps  Institution  of  Oceanography,  T  was  able  to  inform  Mrs. 
Edilson  that  it  was  a  Pacific  fat  sleeper. 

Follett  (1961)  reviewed  the  status  of  the  species  and  listed  their 
distribution  as  Punta  Lobos,  two  miles  southwest  of  Todos  S;mtos. 
Baja  California  (770  miles  below  Palos  Verdes.  California',  south  to 
Guayaquil.  Ecuador.  They  typically  inhabit  freshwater  but  move 
freely  into  saltwater  and  vice  versa.  In  discussing  finding  a  close 
relative.  Et<<>1rk  picta,  in  a  canal  off  the  Colorado  River  in  1952, 
Hubbs  (1953)  speculated  that  Dormitator  latifrons  might  also  stray 
up  the  river  into  California  but  added  none  had  yet  been  found  as 
far  north  as  the  Colorado  Delta.  That  one  would  stray  even  a  short 
distance  north  along  the  riverless  outer  coast  of  Baja  California 
seemed  highly  unlikely.  Mr.  Sherman's  catch,  however,  leaves  little 
doubt  that  such  a  movement  did  take  place  during  the  recent  warm- 
water  period,  a  logical  time  for  such  a  trip.  Although  one  cannot 
exclude  the  possibility  that  some  well-meaning  individual  liberated 
this  fish  in  our  ocean  waters  either  as  a  ""joke"   or   because   it   had 


FIGURE  3.      Pacific  fat  sleeper,  Dormitator  latifrons,  caught  on    hook  and   line  at  Palos   Verdes, 
California,  July  8,  1961.      (Photo  by  Jack  W.  Schott.) 


ADDITIONS  TO   MARINE  FAUNA  221 

outgrown  his  aquarium,  I  prefer  to  believe  it  traveled  northward  with 
water  currents  having  suitable  temperatures. 

Mr.  Sherman's  fish  (Figure  3)  was  an  adult  male  12  inches  long 
(230  mm  s.l.,  302  mm  t.l.)  weighing  approximately  three-quarters  of 
a  pound  (345  grams).  There  were  six  winter  rings  on  the  otoliths, 
indicating  an  age  of  six  years  if  these  are  annuli.  Pacific  fat  sleepers 
are  supposed  to  attain  lengths  of  24  inches  but  there  seems  to  be  no 
definite  record  of  one  that  size.  The  Palos  Verdes  eleotrid  had  35  rows 
of  scales  along  the  lateral  line  and  its  radial  formula,  as  determined 
by  Dr.  Carl  L.  Hubbs,  was  D  VIII— I,  8;  A  I,  9;  C  15  (branched 
rays  +  2)  or  13  articulated  rays;  F1  15—1,  13  (14);  P2  I,  5—1,  5. 
It  was  sent  to  UCLA  and  eventually  will  be  deposited  at  Scripps 
Institution  of  Oceanography. 

REFERENCES 
Follett,  W.  I. 

1961.     The  fresh-water  fishes — their  origins  and  affinities.  Systematic  Zool.,  vol.  9, 
nos.  3  and  4   (Sept.-Dec.  1960),  pp.  212-232. 
Hubbs,  Carl  L. 

1953.     Eleotris  picta  added  to  the  fish  fauna  of  California.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game, 
vol.  39,  no.  1,  pp.  69-76. 
Johnson,  Martin  W. 

1960.  Production  and  distribution  of  larvae  of  the  spiny  lobster,  Panulirus  in- 
terrupts (Randall)  with  records  on  P.  gracilis  Streets.  Bull.  Scripps 
Inst.  Oceano.,  vol.  7,  no.  6,  pp.  413-462. 

Mortensen,  Th. 

1928.     A  monograph  of  the  Echinoidea.  I.  Cidaroidea.  C.  A.  Reitzel,  Copenhagen, 
550  pp. 
Radovich,  John 

1961.  Relationships  of  some  marine  organisms  of  the  northeast  Pacific  to  water 
temperatures,  particularly  during  1957  through  1959.  Calif.  Dept.  Fish  and 
Game,  Fish  Bull.  112,  62  pp. 

Reid,  Joseph  L.,  Jr.,  Gunnar  I.  Roden  and  John  G.  Wyllie 

1958.  Studies  of  the  California  current  system.  Cal.  Mar.  Res.  Comm.,  Cal. 
Coop.  Ocean.  Fish.   Invest.,  Prog.  Rept..  1  Jul.  56 — 1  Jan.  58,  pp.  27-56. 


THE  SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA  MACKEREL  FISHERY  AND 

AGE  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  PACIFIC  MACKEREL 

CATCH   FOR  THE   1958-59  SEASON1 

HAROLD   HYATT 

Marine  Resources  Operations 

California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game 

This  is  the  eighth  report  on  the  age  composition  of  the  Pacific  mack- 
erel (Pneumatophorus  diego)  catch.  It  covers  landings  for  the  1958-59 
season.  The  methods  used  in  sampling,  making  age  determinations, 
and  estimating  numbers  of  fish  and  pounds  landed  are  the  same  as 
those  used  annually  since  the  1939-40  season  (Fitch.  1951).  Apprecia- 
tion is  extended  to  Mrs.  Gertrude  M.  Cutler  for  her  aid  on  the  data 
computations  required  for  this  study. 

Commercial  landings  of  Pacific  mackerel  at  southern  California 
ports  totaled  only  24.2  million  pounds  during  the  season  from  May 
1,  1958  to  April  30,  1959,  which  were  less  than  half  those  of  the  pre- 
ceding season  (Hyatt,  1960),  and  less  than  the  35  million-pound 
seasonal  average  since  1947-48.  During  the  12-season  period  from 
1934-35  to  1946-47  an  average  of  about  85  million  pounds  was  landed 
annually. 

The  1958-59  season  began  with  moderate  landings  (2.3  million 
pounds)  in  May.  Landings  declined  after  May,  reached  a  low  in  Sep- 
tember, then  rose  from  October  through  December  when  half  the 
season's  total  was  taken.  After  December,  catches  dropped  off  sharply 
then  increased  slowly  through  April  (Table  1). 

TABLE  1 
Pacific  Mackerel  Monthly  Landings  During  the  1958-59  Season 


Month 


Pounds 


Month 


Pounds 


May... 2,312,000 

June 1,300,000 

July 1,216,000 

August... 1,528,000 

September 765,000 

October 2,775,000 


November 3,909,000 

December.. 5,322,000 

January 919,000 

February 133,000 

March. 1,653,000 

April... 2,343,000 


From  May  through  August,  the  canners  paid  fishermen  $42.50  per 
ton  for  Pacific  mackerel;  in  September,  the  price  was  raised  to  $50 
per  ton. 

At  certain  times  during  the  season  when  the  market  is  good  or  the 
backlog  of  canned  fish  is  low,  the  catch  may  be  limited  by  the  avail- 

1  Submitted  for  publication  July  1961. 


(  222  ) 


PACIFIC   MACKEREL  AGE  223 

able  supply.  At  other  times  when  the  market  is  slow  and  inventories 
build  up,  canners  place  limits  on  the  tonnage  accepted  daily  from  each 
boat.  Such  limits  fluctuated  from  20  to  90  tons  during  the  1958-59 
season.  Since  the  lower  figure  is  approximately  the  capacity  of  a 
lampara  net  boat,  canner  limits  tend  to  favor  the  operations  of  these 
smaller  fishing  boats  over  the  large  purse  seiners  whose  capacities  may 
exceed  100  tons. 

Most  of  the  catches  were  made  within  a  30-mile  radius  of  Los  Angeles 
Harbor.  Moderate  catches  were  made  in  the  vicinity  of  Santa  Cruz  and 
San  Clemente  Islands,  and  minor  catches  along  the  coast  from  Ocean- 
side  to  San  Diego,  and  offshore  (Table  2). 

TABLE  2 
Origin  of  the  Southern  California  Pacific  Mackerel  Catch  in  the  1958-59  Season 

Locality  Percent  of  catch 

Santa  Catalina  Island 29.0 

San  Pedro  to  Oceanside 26.5 

Santa  Monica  Bay 25.5 

Santa  Cruz  Island  Area 10.0 

San  Clemente  Island 7.8 

•           Oceanside  to  San  Diego  and  offshore 1.2 

Total. 100.0 


Fishing  boats  using  purse  seines  or  lampara  nets  caught  63  percent 
of  the  tonnage.  The  remaining  37  percent  was  caught  by  scoop  boats 
whose  loads  varied  from  a  few  hundred  pounds  to  several  tons. 

Lengths  and  weights  were  obtained  from  6,178  Pacific  mackerel 
sampled  during  the  season,  and  ages  were  determined  from  otoliths 
removed  from  898  of  these  fish  (Table  3). 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  season,  fish  younger  than  one  year 
were  large  enough  to  be  caught  in  great  numbers.  These  fish,  the  1958 
year-class,  contributed  60  percent  of  the  number  taken  (Table  4). 

The  second  largest  age  group,  comprising  18.5  percent  of  the  num- 
bers caught,  was  the  three-year-old  1955  year-class  which  had  domi- 
nated the  catch  during  the  preceding  two  seasons.  As  two-year-old  fish 
in  the  1957-58  season,  they  had  supplied  50  percent  of  the  catch ;  and 
had  made  up  60  percent  as  one-year-olds  during  1956-57.  The  tonnage 
landed  in  each  of  these  seasons  was  more  than  twice  that  of  the  1958-59 
season. 

Only  10.2  percent  of  the  previous  season's  catch  consisted  of  1956 's, 
but  this  was  about  twice  as  many  individuals  from  that  year-class  as 
were  caught  in  1958-59  when  the  contribution  was  11.5  percent.  It  is 
probable  that  future  contributions  of  1956  fish  will  be  of  minor  impor- 
tance since  the  contributions  are  heaviest  from  the  first  to  the  third 
year  of  life  (Tables  5  and  6)  and  percentages  of  this  year-class  have 
been  small  in  the  catches  of  the  past  two  years. 

The  1957  year-class  (one-year-olds)  amounted  to  only  3.8  percent  of 
the  1958-59  season's  landings.  This  may  be  one  of  the  poorest  year- 
classes  on  record. 

Fish  four  years  old  and  older  comprised  only  5.5  percent  of  the 
landings. 

3—69171 


224  CALIFORNIA  FISH   AND  GAME 

TABLE  3 

Fork  Lengths  of  Pacific  Mackerel  in  Quarter  Centimeters  at  Each  Age  for  the 
1958-59  Season,  Based  on  Otoliths  Read 

Age  group 


III 


VI 


4 
3 

2 
3 
6 
4 
9 
3 
6 
9 
8 
12 
4 
4 
8 
ir, 
18 
10 
10 
14 
11 
13 
18 
9 
16 
11 
8 
19 
14 
12 


1 

1 

1 
1 

6 
5 
2 

4 

4 

11 

7 

6 

3 

13 

11 

10 

17 

10 

10 

7 


PACIFIC   MACKEREL  AGE 


225 


TABLE  3— Continued 
Fork  Lengths  of  Pacific  Mackerel  in  Quarter  Centimeters  at  Each  Age  for  the 


1958-59  Seasor 

,  Based  on  Otoliths  Read 

Age  group 

}/i  cm. 

0 

i 

II 

in 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII + 

Total 

135                

-- 

l 

2 

6 
3 
4 
5 
1 
4 
3 
4 
3 
4 
2 
4 

2 

1 

1 

1 

8 
7 

11 
9 
4 

12 
6 

11 
1 
5 
3 
7 
4 
5 

1 
3 
2 
2 
1 

3 

2 

2 

2 
3 

2 
3 
5 

7 
4 
2 
5 
4 
4 
7 
2 
2 
4 

2 
3 

2 

2 
1 

3 

1 
2 

1 
2 
1 
3 

1 

3 

1 
1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 
1 

1 
1 

1 
1 

14 

6           

13 

7        

17 

8        

19 

9 

140   -    

8 
20 

1           

17 

2_.    

23 

3           

8 

4 

145 

11 
11 

6   _    

19 

7 

9 

8      

16 

9.      

2 

150   

5 

1.      

10 

2 

5 

3.    

8 

4..    

6 

155 

1 

6..    

8 

7 

8.-   

1 

9_    

3 

160       

1.    

2_      

3 

1 

Totals 

354 

64 

136 

237 

73 

25 

7 

2 

898 

The  Pacific  mackerel  population  seems  to  be  at  a  low  level ;  the  1956 
and  1957  year-classes  appear  to  be  below  average  and  the  1955  year- 
class  represents  the  only  mature  class  of  any  size  in  the  fishery.  The 
population  contains  too  few  older  fish  to  contribute  much  weight  to  the 
catch.  Therefore,  the  main  support  of  the  fishery  will  probably  depend 
on  the  apparently  larger  entering  1958  year-class.  However,  this  year- 
class  may  only  appear  numerous  in  comparison  with  the  other  weak 
classes.  In  either  event,  the  1958  fish  may  not  add  substantially  to  the 


TABLE  4 

Calculated  Number  of  Pacific  Mackerel  Landed  in  Age  Groups  0  Through  VI+ 

During  the  1958-59  Season 


Age  group 

0 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI+ 

Totals 

1958 

23,922,000 
60.7 

1957 

1,511,000 
3.8 

1956 

4,533,000 
11.5 

1955 

7,300,000 
18.5 

1954 

1,687,000 
4.3 

1953 

295,000 
.8 

182,000 
.4 

Number  of  fish 

Percentage  of  fish 

39,430,000 
100.00 

226 


CALIFORNIA  FISII  AND  GAME 

TABLE  5 

Number  of  Pacific  Mackerel  Landed  of  Each  Year-Class  at  Each  Age  from  the 
1939-40  Through  the  1958-59  Seasons 


Age  group 

Year- 

class 

0 

I 

II 

Ill 

IV 

V 

Totals 

1934 

5,340,000 

1935 





10,570,000 

1,443,000 



1936 





35,130,000 

13,551,000 

970,000 



1937 



26,540,000 

25,261,000 

5,121,000 

822,000 



1938 

25,200,000 

69,322,000 

25,661,000 

5,271,000 

1,082,000 

126,536,000 

1939 

2,960,000 

20,793,000 

26,454,000 

12,698,000 

7,133,000 

1,616,000 

71,654,000 

1940 

2,313.000 

12,507,000 

9,204,000 

10,156,000 

7,712,000 

3,328,000 

45,220,000 

1941 

398,000 

29,376,000 

54,106,000 

33,905,000 

10,312,000 

2,294,000 

130,391,000 

1942 

0 

12,462,000 

19,047,000 

10,259,000 

4,661,000 

2,019,000 

48,448,000 

1943 

836,000 

16,556,000 

10,327,000 

11,872,000 

5,087,000 

429,000 

45,107,000 

1944 

0 

14,302,000 

25,823,000 

10,943,000 

1,105,000 

584,000 

52,757,000 

1945 

556,000 

9,330,000 

7,980,000 

756,000 

688,000 

72,000 

19,382,000 

1946 

560,000 

1,377,000 

3,175,000 

4,279,000 

937,000 

218,000 

10,546,000 

1947 

7,181,000 

63,330,000 

49,255,000 

15,826,000 

11,127,000 

2,756,000 

149,475,000 

1948 

1,061,000 

21,818,000 

19,228,000 

13,871,000 

9,484,000 

307,000 

65,829,000 

1949 

136,000 

3,854,000 

4,428,000 

1,286,000 

161,000 

0 

9,865,000 

1950. 

6,000 

1,583,000 

521,000 

583,000 

71,000 

15,000 

2,779,000 

1951 

769,000 

46,000 

475,000 

208,000 

204,000 

62,000 

1,764,000 

1952 

86,000 

676,000 

3,893,000 

6,021,000 

3,641,000 

2,302,000 

16,619,000 

1953 

12,237,000 

40,036,000 

21,156,000 

14,641,000 

8,100,000 

295,000 

96,525,000 

1954 

564,000 

3,562,000 

14,976,000 

11,332,000 

1,687,000 



32,121,000 

1955 

4,237,000 

49,429,000 

30,487,000 

7,300,000 





91,453,000 

1956 

21,000 

6,228,000 

4,533,000 







10,782,000 

1957 

1,386,000 

1,511,000 









2,897,000 

1958 - 

23,922,000 













TABLE  6 

Pounds  of  Pacific  Mackerel  Landed  of  Each  Year-Class  at  Each  Age  from  the 
1939-40  Through  the  1958-59  Seasons 


Age  group 

Year- 

class 

0 

I 

II 

Ill 

IV 

V 

Totals 

1934 

6,851,000 

1935..  ... 







12,141,000 

1,885,000 



1936 



31,946,000 

14,592,000 

1,414,000 



1937. 



19,306,000 

22,163,000 

7,015,000 

1,178,000 



1938 

11,578,000 

49,762,000 

27,249,000 

6,651,000 

1,499,000 

96,739,000 

1939. 

961,000 

11,609,000 

21,747,000 

12,898,000 

9,058,000 

2,334,000 

58,607,000 

1940 

853,000 

7,564,000 

7,809,000 

10,743,000 

10,139,000 

4,809,000 

41,(U7,000 

1941 

116,000 

15,085,000 

40,066,000 

36,527,000 

13,595,000 

3,230,000 

108,625,000 

1942 

0 

7,912,000 

16,208,000 

11,453,000 

6,225,000 

2,863,000 

44,661,000 

1943 

274,000 

9,991,000 

9,221,000 

12,786,000 

6,718,000 

638,000 

39,628,000 

1944 

0 

7,296,000 

22,530,000 

13,035,000 

1,484,000 

852,000 

45,197,000 

1945 

158,000 

5,627,000 

7,601,000 

867,000 

899,000 

100,000 

15,252,000 

1946 

129,000 

1,015,000 

2,365,000 

4,070,000 

1,078,000 

290,000 

8,947,000 

1947 

1,477,000 

29,043,000 

32,320,000 

14,092,000 

12,819,000 

4,058,000 

95,009,000 

1948 

248,000 

8,612,000 

13,591,000 

13,327,000 

12,583,000 

637,000 

48,998,000 

1949 

47,000 

2,155,000 

3,547,000 

1,509,000 

229,000 

0 

7,487,000 

1950 

1,000 

802,000 

474,000 

687,000 

90,000 

24,000 

2,078,000 

1951 

252,000 

34,000 

483,000 

234,000 

244,000 

94,000 

1,341,000 

1952 

33,000 

463,000 

3,063,000 

6,034,000 

4,394,000 

3,112,000 

17,099,000 

1953 

4,358,000 

23,175.000 

16,990,000 

14,973,000 

10,197,000 

411,000 

70,104,000 

1954 

94,000 

l, <.u;  I. in  in 

1 1 ,722,000 

12,294,000 

2,117,000 



28,191,000 

1955 

1,270,000 

25,940,000 

24,552,000 

8,194,000 





59,950,000 

1956 

5,000 

4,222,000 

4,674,000 





8,901,000 

1957 

466.000 

897,000 









1,363,000 

1958 

7,617,000 













PACIFIC   MACKEREL  AGE 


227 


broodstock  upon  reaching  maturity  at  2\  years  of  age,  after  having 
borne  the  brunt  of  the  fishery  throughout  its  early  life. 


REFERENCES 
Fitch,  John  E. 

1951.     Age  composition  of  the  southern  California  catch  of  Pacific  mackerel  1939- 

40  through  1950-51.  Calif.  Dept.  Fish  and  Game,  Fish  Bull.  83,  73  pp. 
1953a.  Age  composition  of  the  southern  California  catch  of  Pacific  mackerel  for 

the  1951-52  season.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  vol.  39,  no.  1,  pp.  141-146. 
1953b.  Age  composition  of  the  southern  California  catch  of  Pacific  mackerel  for 

the  1952-53  season.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  vol.  39,  no.  4,  pp.  553-558. 
1955.     Age  composition  of  the  southern  California  catch  of  Pacific  mackerel  for 

the  1953-54  season.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  vol.  41,  no.  1,  pp.  107-112. 

Age  composition  of  the  southern  California  catch  of  Pacific  mackerel  for 

the  1954-55  season.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  vol.  42,  no.  2,  pp.  143-148. 

Age  composition  of  the  southern  California  catch  of  Pacific  mackerel  for 

the  two  seasons,  1955-56  and  1956-57.  Calif.  Dept.  Fish  and  Game,  Fish 

Bull.  106,  pp.  19-26. 
Hyatt,  Harold 

1960.     Age   composition   of   the   southern    California    catch    of   Pacific    mackerel, 

Pneumatophorus  diego  for  the  1957-58  season.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  vol. 

46,  no.  2,  pp.  183-188. 


1956. 


1958. 


CALIFORNIA  SEA  LION  CENSUS  FOR   1958, 
1960  AND   1961  x 

WM.   ELLIS   RIPLEY 

Marine  Resources  Branch 

and 

KEITH  W.   COX  AND  JOHN   L.   BAXTER 

Marine  Resources  Operations 
California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game 

For  over  three-quarters  of  a  century,  sea  lions  along  our  shores  have 
created  varying  degrees  of  interest  in  their  abundance  and  behavior. 
Consequently,  these  animals  have  been  counted  intermittently  since  the 
late  1 800 's. 

Coastwide  censuses  have  been  made  by  the  Department  of  Fish  and 
Game  since  1927.  Counting  methods  have  been  modified  and  the  tallies 
since  1946  do  not  have  the  same  base  as  those  prior  to  that  time.  In 
fact,  the  substantial  differences  in  techniques  permit  direct  comparison 
or  evalution  of  the  figures  only  with  caution  based  upon  an  under- 
standing of  their  limitations. 

The  persistent  charge  of  devastation  leveled  at  sea  lions  particularly 
by  sportsmen  and  commercial  fishermen  has  made  these  animals  the 
subject  of  extensive  criticism  on  one  hand,  and  indulgent  defense  on 
the  other.  It  is  our  intent  to  discuss  only  the  records  and  fluctuations 
of  the  counts  and  to  point  out  some  of  the  factors  complicating  the 
tallies  but  not  to  relate  the  details  of  the  controversies. 

Prior  to  1946,  censuses  were  made  only  on  the  larger  rookeries,  haul- 
ing grounds  and  nearby  areas  (Bonnot  and  Ripley,  1948).  Generally, 
the  sea  lions  on  the  rocks  were  counted  from  a  boat  by  at  least  two 
observers.  In  some  cases,  the  observers  would  land  and  make  their 
tallies  from  vantage  points.  The  counts  of  the  two  or  more  observers 
were  averaged.  By  this  system  it  was  possible  to  determine  accurately 
the  species,  to  count  only  adults  and  subadults,  and  to  eliminate  pups 
from  the  tallies.  In  the  field,  subadult  males  could  not  always  be  dis- 
tinguished from  females  with  accuracy.  The  species  breakdown  through 
L938  is  believed  reliable  because  the  counts  through  that  year  repre- 
sented adults  and  subadults  only. 

In  1946,  the  census  was  made  by  a  variety  of  observers  and  methods. 
Both  patrol  personnel  and  marine  biologists  made  direct  observations 
and  took  photographs  from  boats,  airplanes  and  blimps.  Thus  a  mixture 
of  surface  tallies,  which  excluded  pups,  and  aerial  techniques,  which 
sometimes  did  not,  created  an  aggregate  count  not  comparable  with 
prior  or  subsequent  ones.  Species  were  not  separated  in  the  1946  census 
but  for  general  purposes  all  north  of  Point  Conception  were  considered 
Steller  sea  linns.  Eumetopias  jubata,  and  those  south  of  that  point 
California  sea  lions,  Zalophus  califomianus. 

>  Submitted  for  publication  May  1962. 

(  228  ) 


SEA  LION  CENSUS 


229 


The  ranges  of  the  two  species  overlap  in  central  California  but  de- 
tailed studies  by  Bartholomew  and  Boolootian  (1960)  showed  less  than 
one-half  of  one  percent  Stellers  on  the  southern  California  islands  they 
surveyed.  Similarly,  during  the  censuses  when  the  species  were  sepa- 
rated the  percentage  of  Californias  north  of  Point  Conception  was 
insignificant.  However,  this  does  not  imply  that  the  population  struc- 
ture remains  constant  before  or  after  the  breeding  season.  According 
to  Fry  (1939),  Bartholomew  and  Boolootian  (1960),  and  Orr  and 
Poulter  (1962),  the  Californias  appear  to  migrate  widely  and  rapidly 
between  breeding  seasons. 

The  1947  census  was  made  almost  entirely  from  a  Navy  blimp,  which 
in  the  1946  census,  had  proved  excellent  for  observation.  Photographs 
were  taken  at  slow  ground  speeds,  at  relatively  low  altitudes,  and  on 
large,  nine-  by  nine-inch  negatives.  Although  species  were  not  distin- 
guished with  precision,  the  pups  were  eliminated  to  a  large  degree  from 
nearly  all  counts.  Unfortunately,  an  accident  occurred  during  one 
flight  along  the  northern  coast.  The  blimp  was  destroyed  in  a  crash  off 
Cape  Mendocino  and,  although  no  one  was  injured,  photographs  of 
several  rookeries  were  lost.  These  areas  were  resurveyed  from  a  De- 
partment plane.  Faster  ground  speeds,  higher  altitudes  and  smaller 
negatives  made  it  impossible  to  distinguish  with  accuracy  large  pups 
from  small  adults.  Thus  the  1947  census  figures  were  a  mixture  of 
mainly  adult  counts  for  most  of  the  coast,  and  of  adult  and  pup  counts 
for  several  northern  California  rookeries  and  hauling  grounds. 


FIGURE   1.     Aerial   photograph  of  sea   lions  and   elephant  seals  on   San   Miguel    Island,    1958. 
The  elephant  seals  are  clustered  mainly  in  the  center  of  the  sandspit. 


230 


CALIFORNIA   FISTI   AND  GAME 


Eleven  years  elapsed  before  the  next  survey  in  1958.  This  and  the 
I960  and  1961  surveys  were  made  by  airplane  using  comparable  tech- 
niques (Figure  1).  Counts  were  made  from  aerial  photographs  of  the 
larger  concentrations  while  smaller  groups  were  counted  visually  and 
added  to  area  totals.  Adult  and  pup  sea  lions  were  included  and  no 
attempt  was  made  to  distinguish  species. 

NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA 

Unadjusted  sea  lion  counts  made  in  northern  California  since  1927 
have  varied  from  about  4,000  to  slightly  over  7,000  per  year  (Table  1). 
The  apparent  increases  since  1938  may  largely  reflect  our  having  in- 
cluded pups  plus  the  more  complete  coverage  we  obtained  by  aerial 
methods.  For  the  most  part,  northern  California  counts  were  Stellers. 
The  trends  reflect  a  fairly  stable  population  with  some  minor  changes 
probably  associated  with  emigration  out  of,  or  immigration  into,  the 
census  area. 

SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA 

The  southern  California  sea  lion  population  has  definitely  increased, 
containing  over  18,000  animals  during  the  1961  survey  (Table  1).  Un- 
fortunately, no  counts  were  possible  in  southern  California  in  1960 
because  of  unsuitable  weather  during  the  census  period.  However,  the 
1958  and  1961  results  showed  significant  increases  of  California  sea 
lions,  particularly  in  three  areas:  the  rookeries  of  San  Miguel,  San 
Clemente,  and  San  Nicolas  Islands. 


TABLE  1 
Number  of  Sea  Lions  Counted  on  Rookeries  and  Hauling  Grounds  1927-1961 


Locality 

1927 

1928 

1930 

1936 

1938 

1946 

1947 

1958 

1960* 

1961 

St.  George  Reef  to  Cape 

2,400 
300 

150 

706 
1,500 

557 

1,511 
206 

42 

540 

1,500 

270 

337 

1,600 
300 

928 

2,500 

209 

357 

1,452 

142 

54 

4 

525 

1,200 

338 

509 

918 

6 
2 

447 

2,000 

191 

415 

902 
148 
111 
59 
950 
1,900 
402 
696 

825 
40 

102 
50 

750 
2,050 

403 

836 

1,321 

1,050 

936 

90 

941 

1,170 
517 

1,028 

1,219 

464 

625 

9 

1,290 

1,350 

311 

504 

907 

To  Pt.  Arena... 

781 

To  Pt.  Reye«.._ 

795 

To  Pigeon  Point 

23 
703 

2,342 

To  Pt.  Lobos 

To  Pt.  Conception. 

230 
894 

Nortliern  Ca  ifornia 

To  Pt.  Loma  (Mainland) . 

S:tn  Miguel  Island 

Santa  Rosa  Island 

Santa  Cruz  Island 

Anacapa  Island   

Santa  Barbara  Island 

San  Clemente  Island 

Santa  Catalina  Island 

San  Nicolas  Island 

5,613 

744 
49 

233 
34 

1 25 

265 

Not 
visited 

4,406 

1,021 

38 

203 

27 

327 

251 

Not 
visited 

5,894 

825 
12 

208 
11 
8 

347 

Not 
visited 

4,224 

1,879 

52 

200 

11 

600 

435 

Not 
visited 

3,979 

2,706 

20 

141 

10 

500 

490 

15 

Not 

visited 

5,168 

36 
2,819 

1,075 
81 

2,056 
883 
104 
284 

5,056 

30 
1,600 

100 

1,000 

250 

20 

660 

7,053 

164 
5,192 

295 

262 

45 

1,847 

1,507 

233 
3,074 

5,772 

6,675 

33 
9,512 

15 

15 

1,760 

2,361 

30 

4,637 

Southern  California 

1,450 

1,867 

1,411 

3,177 

3,882 

7,338 

3,660 

12,619 

-- 

18,363 

All  California 

7,063 

6,273 

7,305 

7,401 

7,861 

12, 506 

S,71(i 

19,672 

-- 

_'.-,,<  i:-;s 

•  No  census  of  southern  California  taken. 


SEA  LION   CENSUS  231 

Excluding  the  effects  of  environment,  two  factors  may  be  related  to 
their  increase.  The  first  is  associated  with  seclusion.  Several  areas 
where  increases  have  occurred  are  remote  places  not  normally  fre- 
quented by  the  general  public.  Some  are  accessible  only  to  military 
personnel. 

The  second  factor  may  be  related  to  stress.  During  and  subsequent 
to  World  "War  II  many  areas  frequented  by  sea  lions  were  used  for 
military  training.  Air  to  ground  gunnery  ranges  were  established  and 
considerable  disturbance  took  place  on  the  islands  in  preparation  for 
amphibious  activity.  Practice  gunnery  by  trainee  fighter  pilots  un- 
doubtedly frightened  the  sea  lions  and  contributed  to  a  reduction  in 
their  numbers  on  these  particular  islands.  During  the  1946  and  1947 
surveys,  sea  lion  herds  were  very  jumpy  and  reacted  wildly  to  the 
approach  of  an  airplane.  Although  frightened  by  the  noise  and  the 
size  of  the  blimp,  they  were  not  nearly  as  panicky  when  it  approached. 

The  reaction  of  the  sea  lions  to  an  airplane  was  not  so  violent  during 
the  1958  and  1961  censuses.  Apparently  the  passage  of  years  since  the 
wartime  activity  and  new  generations  of  sea  lions  in  the  population 
have  decreased  the  intensity  of  the  herd's  response  to  low-flying  air- 
craft. To  a  lesser  degree,  in  certain  isolated  northern  California  areas, 
the  reaction  of  the  Stellers  immediately  after  the  war  was  similar  to 
that  of  the  Californias  on  the  southern  California  islands.  Thus,  the 
activities  associated  with  wartime  training  may  have  kept  sea  lion 
numbers  down  during  and  immediately  following  World  War  II.  Varia- 
tions in  the  environment  and  food  supply  also  may  have  affected  the 
population,  just  how  is  not  known. 

SUMMARY 

Ten  sea  lion  censuses  were  made  in  California  between  1927  and 
1961.  The  population  has  fluctuated,  being  highest  in  northern  Cali- 
fornia during  1958.  In  southern  California,  the  peak  of  abundance  was 
in  1961  when  over  18,000  sea  lions  were  on  the  southern  California 
offshore  islands.  Changes  in  their  abundance  may  have  been  due  to 
increased  immigation  into  southern  California,  to  a  lessening  of 
harassment  by  man  or  to  environmental  factors. 

REFERENCES 

Bonnot,  Paul  and  Wm.  Ellis  Ripley 

1948.     The  California  sea  lion  census  for  1947.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  vol.  34, 
no.  3,  pp.  89-92. 
Bartholomew,  George  A.  and  Richard  A.  Boolootian 

1960.     Numbers    and    population    structure    of   the   pinnipeds    on    the   California 
Channel  Islands.  Jour.  Mamm.,  vol.  41,  no.  3,  pp.  366-375. 

Fry,  Donald  H.,  Jr. 

i.939.     A  winter  influx  of  sea  lions  from  Lower  California.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game, 
vol.  25,  no.  3,  pp.  245-250. 
Orr,  Robert  T.  and  Thomas  C.  Poulter    - 

1962.     Ano  Nuevo  Marine  Biological  Park.  Pac.  Disc,  vol.  15,  no.  1,  pp.  13-19. 


AGE  AND  LENGTH  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  SARDINE 
CATCH  OFF  THE  PACIFIC  COAST  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  AND  MEXICO  IN   1 959-60 ' 

DOYLE  E.  GATES 

Marine  Resources  Operations 

California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game 

ROBERT  S.  WOLF 
United  States  Bureau  of  Commercial  Fisheries 

INTRODUCTION 

This  report,  the  14th  on  age  and  length  composition  of  the  catch  of 
Pacific  sardines  (Sardinops  caerulea)  off  the  Pacific  Coast  of  North 
America,  resulted  from  one  phase  of  the  research  conducted  by  the 
California  Cooperative  Oceanic  Fisheries  Investigations.  Two  CalCOFI 
agencies,  the  California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game  and  the  U.S. 
Bureau  of  Commercial  Fisheries,  have  prepared  these  reports  jointly 
on  a  seasonal  basis  since  the  1941-42  sardine  season  (Wolf,  et  al.,  1961). 

The  assistance  of  Anita  E.  Daugherty  and  Clark  Blunt,  of  the  Cali- 
fornia Department  of  Fish  and  Game ;  and  John  MacGregor  and 
Makoto  Kimura  of  the  U.S.  Bureau  of  Commercial  Fisheries,  is  grate- 
fully acknowledged. 

THE  FISHERY 

During  the  1959-60  season,  the  128-boat  California  sardine  fleet 
landed  15,418  tons  in  central  California  and  20,335  in  southern  Cali- 
fornia for  a  total  of  35,753.  Approximately  8,113  of  the  22,400  tons 
landed  by  the  Mexican  fleet  were  netted  during  a  period  comparable 
to  the  California  season  making  a  coastwide  season  total  of  43,866  tons. 
This  was  less  than  half  of  the  110,414  tons  landed  the  preceding  season. 

The  catch  was  restricted  little  by  cannery-imposed  limits  on  individ- 
ual boat  trips.  Limits,  when  imposed,  ranged  from  40  to  100  tons  per 
boat  per  trip. 

Central  California 

As  in  the  previous  year,  the  legal  canning  season  in  central  Cali- 
fornia extended  from  August  1  through  December  31.  The  seasons  are 
set  by  California  law,  with  Point  Arguello  as  the  central-southern  area 
dividing  line  (Figure  2). 

A  price  dispute  deterred  the  fleet  from  fishing  through  all  of  August. 
On  September  1,  agreement  was  reached  with  five  of  the  seven  Monte- 
rey area  canners,  setting  the  price  at  $35  per  ton  for  sardines  and  at 
$50  for  mixed  loads  of  sardines  and  mackerel. 

Pishing  began  the  night  of  September  1.  and  1,571  tons  were  landed 
during  the  "September"  dark-of-the-moon  period.  Lunar  months  are 

1  Submitted  for  publication  May  1962. 

(232  ) 


SARDINE  AGE  AND  LENGTH 


233 


FIGURE   1. 


A  typical  California  sardine  purse  seiner  that  has  just  completed  a   haul. 
graph  by  Anita  E.  Dougherty,  October,  1958.) 


(Photo- 


Set  in  quotation  marks  to  distinguish  them  from  the  calendar  months 
they  approximate  (Table  1).  Almost  equal  tonnages  were  landed  in 
"October,"  "November"  and  "December"— 4,500,  4,000  and  4,400— 
and  800  in  "January"  giving  a  total  through  December  31  of  15,418, 
about  9,000  tons  less  than  the  preceding  season. 

The  lower  catch  was  caused  in  part  by  the  late  fishing  start,  and  by 
inclement  weather  throughout  much  of  September  and  October. 

Ninety-four  percent  of  the  central  California  catch  originated  in  or 
near  Monterey  Bay ;  the  remainder  was  caught  in  the  Morro  Bay-Avila 
area  and  trucked  to  Monterey  area  processing  plants.  During  the  pre- 
vious season,  about  two-thirds  of  the  catch  was  netted  off  Morro  Bay 
and  Avila.  In  1959,  as  in  1958,  the  fishermen  paid  the  cost  of  shipping 
sardines  from  the  Morro  Bay  area  to  the  processing  plants. 

Seven  canners  processed  the  central  California  catch :  five  in  Monte- 
rey, one  in  Moss  Landing,  and  one  in  San  Francisco.  The  fleet  consisted 
of  13  large  purse  seiners  (60  feet  or  over),  5  small  purse  seiners,  and 
20  lampara  boats. 


234 


CALIFORNIA   FISH   AND  GAME 


1959-60      SARDINE  CATCH 
AGE  COMPOSITION  BY  AREA  AND  LUNAR  PERIODS 


CENTRAL  CALIFORNIA 


"OCT." 


"DEC" 


2    3  4+         2    3  4  +         Z    3  4+         2    3  4+        2    3   4+  2    3   4  + 

SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA 


»- 
z 

UJ 

.  "SEPT." 

1 

"OCT." 

"NOV." 

"dec" 

"JAN."   . 

L 

UJ 

5. 

ii 

1.. 

1.1 

L. 

SEASON 
TOTAL 


1 

.    3  4+ 

1     2    3  4+    1     2    3  4+    1    2    3  4+    1    2    3  4+ 

BAJA  CALIFORNIA,  MEXICO 

1 

3   4  + 

z 

UJ 

"S 

:pt." 

"OCT." 

■ 

"NOV!' 

I 

"l 

iEC." 

JAN"  _ 

.   SE 
TC 

4S0N   . 
TAL 

UJ 
Q. 

1 

1. 

If. 

ll. 

1 

1. 

i 

1. 

1 

1 

AGE 

YEAR  CLASS 


I    2    3  4+    I     2    3   4+    I     2    3   4+    I    2    3  4+    I    2    3   4+  12    3  4+ 


+INDICATES   FOUR  YEARS  AND   OLDER 


HJlNDICATES   FISHING  AREAS 


FIGURE   2.     The  sardine  catch  age  composition  by  geographical  area  and  lunar  month  periods. 
Major  fishing  areas  are  shaded. 


SARDINE  AGE  AND  LENGTH  235 

Southern  California 

The  southern  sardine  region  extends  from  Point  Arguello  to  the 
U.S.-Mexican  border.  The  legal  season  began  one  month  later  than  off 
the  central  coast,  extending  from  September  1  through  December  31. 
Although  a  few  boats  fished  during  September,  the  entire  fleet  did  not 
fish  until  the  night  of  October  4  due  to  price  negotiations.  At  that 
time,  the  price  was  set  at  $35  per  ton,  the  same  as  in  central  California. 

For  the  second  consecutive  season,  sardines  were  netted  in  the  north- 
west portion  of  the  region,  with  a  few  taken  from  the  coastal  area 
between  San  Pedro  south  to  San  Diego.  Forty  percent  of  the  catches, 
as  determined  by  fishermen  interviews,  originated  in  the  expanse  from 
the  City  of  Santa  Barbara  to  Point  Mugu  and  offshore  in  the  Santa 
Cruz  Island-Anacapa  Island  area;  34  percent  from  Point  Dume  to 
Point  Vicente  and  in  Santa  Monica  Bay;  22  percent  from  southern 
Channel  Island  waters  (Santa  Barbara,  Santa  Catalina,  San  Clemente, 
and  San  Nicolas  Islands)  ;  and  4  percent  from  the  coastal  area  south 
of  San  Pedro. 

Only  844  tons  were  landed  during  the  "September"  dark.  Approx- 
imately 6,000  were  netted  in  "October"  which  together  with  the  9,828 
in  "November"  comprised  78  percent  of  the  southern  California  total. 
About  2,500  tons  were  netted  in  "December"  and  1,200  in  "January" 
for  a  total  southern  California  catch  of  approximately  20,335  tons. 

Nine  canners  processed  the  southern  California  catch:  eight  in  the 
Los  Angeles-Long  Beach  Harbor  area  and  one  at  Oxnard.  Ninety  boats 
supplied  these  processors,  a  decrease  of  29  vessels  from  the  previous 
season.  The  fleet  consisted  of  63  purse  seiners  (56  large,  7  small)  and 
27  lampara  boats. 

Baja  California 

There  is  year-round  fishing  for  sardines  off  the  Pacific  coast  of  Baja 
California.  During  1959,  approximately  22,400  tons  were  netted  by 
20  Mexican  purse  seiners,  8,113  during  the  "September"  through 
"January"  darks.  The  catch  was  processed  by  eight  canneries. 

Mexican  fishermen,  operating  cannery-owned  boats,  received  a  price 
equivalent  to  $15.10  (U.S.  currency)  per  metric  ton  for  sardines  and 
mackerel.  A  few  American  seine  fishermen  from  San  Pedro  and  San 
Diego  who  delivered  to  Mexican  canneries  were  paid  $32.80  per  metric 
ton  for  their  fish.  Sardines  and  mackerels  used  for  reduction  yielded 
fishermen  $10.04  per  metric  ton. 

The  Baja  California  catch  was  netted  in  three  general  fishing  areas : 
Ensenada,  San  Quintin,  and  Cedros  Island  (Figure  2).  The  six  can- 
neries at  Ensenada  were  supplied  by  14  boats  fishing  between  Los 
Coronados  Islands  and  Cape  Colnett.  A  cannery  at  San  Quintin  op- 
erated two  company-owned  seiners  in  and  around  San  Quintin  Bay 
and  the  Cedros  Island  cannery  took  fish  from  four  vessels  which  netted 
their  catches  in  the  area  from  northern  Sebastian  Vizcaino  Bay  to 
Turtle  Bay. 

AGE  AND  LENGTH  COMPOSITION 

Lunar  month  summaries  were  used  to  obtain  the  year-class  composi- 
tion of  the  total  catch  following  a  method  described  by  Felin  and 
Phillips  (1948).  Inherent  in  the  method  are  weight-per-fish  factors 
computed  each  lunar  week  for  each  area.  The  average  weights  for  this 


236  CALIFORNIA  FISH   AND  GAME 

season  were :  central  California  0.2449  pound,  southern  California 
0.2041  pound,  and  Baja  California  0.1487  pound. 

The  708  fish  aged  from  the  centra]  California  catch  were  2  through 
5  years  old  and  ranged  from  194  to  256  mm  standard  length  (Table  2). 
In  southern  California,  the  657  fish  aged  were  1  through  6  with  lengths 
of  166  to  238  mm  (Table  3).  Ages  ranged  from  1  through  5  for  470  fish 
from  Baja  California  samples  taken  during  the  California  season;  their 
lengths  ranged  from  136  to  236  mm  (Table  4).  During  1  he  Baja  Cali- 
fornia interseason,  the  866  fish  aged  were  1  through  8  years  old  and 
142  through  222  mm  long  (Table  5). 

Two-  and  three-year-old  fish  constituted  92  percent  of  the  115,943,000 
sardines  caught  in  central  California  (Figure  2  and  Table  6).  The 
three-year-old  1956  year-class  contributed  54  percent  and  the  two-year- 
old  1957  year-class,  38  percent.  There  was  little  change  in  length  or 
age  composition  between  lunar  periods. 

In  southern  California,  the  1957  year-class  as  two-year-olds  con- 
tributed 60  percent  of  the  202,095.000  sardines  caught,  the  three-year- 
old  1956  year-class  23  percent,  and  the  one-year-old  1958 's  12  percent 
(Figure  2  and  Table  6). 

In  Baja  California,  during  the  California  season,  the  1957  year-class 
supplied  61  percent  of  the  118,672,000  fish  netted  (Table  6).  One-year- 
olds,  of  the  1958  year-class,  contributed  20  percent  and  three-year-olds, 
the  1956  year-class,  18  percent. 

During  the  interseason,  from  January  1  to  September  1,  the  Baja 
California  catch  of  189,008,000  sardines  contained  47  percent  three- 
year-olds,  1956  year-class  (Table  7).  The  two-year-old  1957  year-class 
contributed  39  percent  and  the  four-year-old  1955 's,  8  percent. 

TABLE  1 

Calendar  Dates  of  Lunar  Months  During  1959 

Lunar  month        Lunar  period1  Dates 

"January" 485  December  25- January  23 

"February" 486  January  24-February  21 

"March" 487  February  22-March  23 

"April" 488  March  24-April  22 

"May" 489  April  23-May  22 

" June " 490  May  23-June  20 

"July" 491  June  21-July  20 

"August".. 492  July  21-August  18 

"September" 493  August  19-September  17 

"October" 494  September  18-October  16 

"November" 495  October  17-November  15 

"December" 496  November  16-December  14 

"January" 497  December  15- January  122 

1  Lunar  periods  have  been  numbered  serially  since  "November"  of  the  1919-20  season. 

2  All  commercial  sardine  fishing  was  considered  to  end  on  December  31. 


SARDINE  AGE  AND  LENGTH 


237 


REFERENCES 

Felin,  Frances  E.  and  Julius  B.  Phillips 

1948.  Age  and  length  composition  of  the  sardine  catch  off  the  Pacific  coast  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  1941-42  through  1946-47,  California  Division  of 
Fish  and  Game,  Fish  Bull.  69,  122  pp. 

Wolf,  Robert  S.  and  Anita  E.  Daugherty 

1961.  Age  and  length  composition  of  the  sardine  catch  off  the  Pacific  coast  of  the 
United  States  and  Mexico  in  1958-59,  California  Fish  and  Game,  vol.  47, 
no.  3,  pp.  273-285. 


TABLE  2 

Length  Composition  of  Year-Classes  in  Sardine  Samples  from  the  Central  California 
Commercial  Catch,  1959-60  Season 


Age 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Year-class 

1957 

1956 

1955 

1954 

1953 

Total 

Standard  length  mm 
194... 

5 

7 
10 

11 
27 
32 
40 
37 

34 
27 

15 

16 

7 

7 
2 
4 

1 
2 
5 
9 

17 
22 

24 
44 
51 

48 
33 
36 
29 
27 

8 
8 
5 
5 
1 

1 
0 
0 
0 
0 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

0 
0 

1 

1 

0 
2 
3 
3 
7 

10 
7 
1 
3 
2 

2 
2 
0 
0 
0 

1 
2 
1 
0 
0 

0 
0 

1 

1 
1 

-- 

1 

196 

7 

198 

12 

200 

20 

202.  

28 

204 

51 

206 

59 

208 

87 

210 

96 

212 

93 

214 

67 

216 

52 

218 

48 

220 '.. 

36 

222 

17 

224 

12 

226.  

9 

228 

5 

230 

1 

232 

2 

234 

2 

236 

238 ... 

1 
0 

240 

0 

242 

244 

0 
0 

246 

1 

248 

250 

0 
0 

252 

254 

0 
0 

256 

1 

Totals   

281 
210 

377 

212 

48 

215 

2 
211 

-- 

708 
211 

238  CALIFORNIA    FISH   AND  GAME 

TABLE  3 

Length  Composition  of  Year-Classes  in  Sardine  Samples  from  the  Southern  California 
Commercial  Catch,  1959-60  Season 


Age 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Year-class 

1958 

1957 

1956 

1955 

1954 

1953 

Total 

Standard  length  mm 
166 - 

1 
0 
0 

4 
0 
7 
8 
3 

15 
7 
4 
6 
3 

4 
1 
0 

2 
0 

1 
0 
0 

1 

1 

4 

13 
6 

17 

24 
13 
18 
16 
20 

25 
19 
20 
21 
16 

19 
30 
25 

27 
9 

17 

13 

8 

1 

2 

1 

1 

0 
0 
0 

1 
1 

2 
1 
1 

3 

7 
9 
4 
12 
12 

8 
14 
23 
17 
13 

12 
8 
5 
2 
2 

0 
3 
1 
0 

0 

1 
0 
0 

1 

1 

1 
2 
3 
1 
3 

1 
2 
2 
0 

1 

2 
4 

0 
0 

1 
0 
0 
0 

1 

0 
0 

1 

1 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

1 

0 
0 

1 

1 

1 

168 

1 

170  _  -   

3 

172   « 

8 

174...  -- --- 

2 

176        - 

20 

178      - - 

15 

180 

21 

182  - 

41 

184 

21 

186      

23 

188     - 

27 

190  . - 

27 

192   --- -- 

37 

194   . --- 

31 

196   .  - -  

27 

198  ._ - 

36 

200         .  - - 

31 

202 -  - - 

29 

204 - 

46 

206 -  --  -- 

50 

208           

45 

210  --  

23 

212   

31 

214    

25 

216 

15 

218  --  -- - 

3 

220 -- 

5 

222  ._ -- 

3 

224 --  -- 

3 

226 -- 

1 

228 

0 

230..  

1 

232 

2 

234... .-- - 

0 

236          .-  

1 

238 -.- 

2 

Totals ---'- 

67 
183 

389 

196 

169 
204 

28 
207 

3 

230 

1 
222 

657 

197 

SARDINE  AGE  AND  LENGTH 
TABLE  4 

Length  Composition  of  Year-Classes  in  Sardine  Samples  from  the  Baja  California 
Commercial  Catch,  1959-60  ("September"  through  "December") 


239 


Age 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Year-class 

1958 

1957 

1956 

1955 

1954 

Total 

Standard  length  mm 
136 

1 
1 
0 

1 
3 

0 
4 
2 

6 
10 

7 
15 
11 

7 
7 
8 
2 
0 

2 
0 
0 
0 

1 

1 
0 
2 
3 

2 

6 

7 

12 

16 

18 
26 
22 
16 
31 

17 
16 
18 
12 
12 

11 
6 
6 
2 

4 

2 
1 
2 
1 
1 

2 
3 

3 
1 
3 

1 
8 

4 

5 

10 

13 

7 

7 
8 
8 
5 
5 

2 
1 
0 
1 
1 

0 
0 
0 
0 
2 

1 
2 

0 
0 
2 
0 
0 

0 
0 
0 
1 
0 

1 
0 
1 

1 

1 

138 --. 

1 

140 

0 

142 

1 

144 ..  ...  ... 

4 

146 

0 

148 

6 

150. 

5 

152. 

8 

154 

16 

156 

14 

158 

29 

160 

30 

162 

28 

164...  

34 

166... 

33 

168 .. 

19 

170 __ 

39 

172 

23 

174... 

21 

176 

28 

178. 

26 

180 

22 

182 .. 

18 

184 .  

14 

186 

16 

188 

7 

190 

9 

192 

4 

194 

2 

196 

2 

198 

3 

200 

2 

202 

1 

204 

0 

206 

1 

208. 

0 

210 

2 

236.. 

1 

Totals  

88 
158 

273 
170 

100 
179 

8 

190 

1 

236 

470 

170 

4—69171 


240  CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 

TABLE  5 

Length  Composition  of  Year-Classes  in  Sardine  Samples  from  the  1959  Baja  California 
Interseason  Catch  ("January"-"August  ) 


Year-class 

1958 

1957 

1956 

1955 

1954 

1953 

1952 

1951 

Total 

Standard 
length  mm 

142 

1 
0 
1 
1 
3 

3 
2 
6 
0 
1 

0 
3 
0 

1 
0 

1 
0 
0 
0 

1 

3 

1 
1 

6 

3 

11 

13 

20 

12 
22 
14 
19 
12 

18 
12 
21 
16 
11 

10 
19 
9 
20 
19 

8 
8 
4 
4 
1 

2 
2 

1 
1 
1 
5 
10 

8 
9 
9 
13 
11 

8 
15 
12 
16 
19 

12 
35 
32 
35 
37 

38 
38 
20 
15 
12 

6 
4 
3 
1 
3 

0 
0 
0 
0 

1 

1 
0 

1 
0 
0 
1 
1 

1 
1 
1 

1 
2 

1 
0 
7 
5 
7 

4 
5 
9 
5 
6 

4 
5 
5 
2 
4 

0 
0 
4 
0 
0 

1 

2 

1 
0 

0 
0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

144 

0 

146 

4 

148 

2 

150  _. 

4 

152 

154... 

10 
6 

156 - 

18 

158.-- 

19 

160  . 

31 

162. 

21 

164  .   

34 

166...  

23 

168 

34 

170   

24 

172... 

28 

174 

28 

176.-. -- 

34 

178  . 

33 

180.. 

33 

182.. 

23 

184... 

54 

186... 

48 

188 

190... 

192 

194.  

60 
63 

51 
51 

196... 

34 

198... 

24 

200...   

19 

202 

12 

204.  

11 

206... 

10 

208 

4 

210 

7 

212 

1 

214 

0 

216 

5 

218-.  

0 

220 

1 

222.   

1 

Totals 

24 

157 

321 

174 

430 
185 

84 

195 

4 
209 

1 
196 

1 

212 

1 
192 

866 

Mean  lengths.  - 

181 

SARDINE  AGE  AND  LENGTH 


241 


TABLE  6 
Age  and  Year-Class  Composition  of  the  Sardine  Catch  in  the  1959-60  Season 


Catch 

Number  of  fish  in  thousands  by  age  and  year-class 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

Tons 

Number 

1958 

1957 

1956 

1955 

1954 

1953 

1952 

Central  California 
"August" 

1.571 

4,544 

4,068 

4,435 

800 

11,274 
34,049 
31,439 
33,083 
6,098 

- 

4,882 
15,186 
12,953 
9,065 
2,122 

5,998 
16,684 
16,129 
20,511 

3,537 

304 
2,179 
2,106 
3,408 

341 

90 

220 
99 
98 

31 

Total  Central  California 

15,418 

844 
5,942 
9,828 
2,531 
1,190 

115,943 
100.0 

6,853 
60,039 
100,581 
24,473 
10,149 

774 
8,045 
12,372 
3,573 

142 

44,208 
38.1 

3,934 

32,661 
65,177 
14,684 
5,277 

62,859 
54.2 

2,145 

16,571 
19,412 
5,188 
3,715 

8,338 
7.2 

2,642 

2,917 

979 

873 

507 
0.5 

60 
603 

49 
112 

31 

60 
100 

- 

Southern  California 

" 

30 

Total  Southern  California.--  .. 

20,335 
35,753 

1,326 
2,405 
2,017 
1,545 
820 

202,095 
100.0 

318,038 
100.0 

20,051 
35,874 
31,054 
20,721 
10,972 

24,906 
12.3 

24,906 
7.8 

3,887 
9,354 
7,134 
2,215 
1,132 

121,733 
60.2 

165,941 
52.2 

12,413 

19,893 
18,059 
14,289 
7,462 

47,031 
23.3 

109,890 
34.6 

3,220 
6,360 
5,694 
3,951 
2,224 

7,411 
3.7 

15,749 
4.9 

531 
267 
167 
85 
52 

824 
0.4 

1,331 
0.4 

181 
102 

160 
0.1 

191 
0.1 

30 

Total  California 

30 

Baja  California3 

" 

" 

8,113 

43,866 

118,672 
100.0 

436,710 
100.0 

23,722 
20.0 

48,628 
11.1 

72,116 
60.8 

238,057 
54.5 

21,449 
18.1 

131,339 
30.1 

1,102 
0.9 

16,851 
3.9 

283 
0.2 

1,614 
0.4 

191 

Percent 

"" 

TOTAL 

30 

1  Price  dispute,  vessels  did  not  fish. 

a  December  15  to  January  1  only. 

8  Includes  data  from  Ensenada,  San  Quintln  and  Cedros  Island. 


242 


CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 


TABLE  7 

Year-Class  Composition  of  the  1959  Interseason  Sardine  Catch  for  Baja  California 


Catch 

Number  of  fish 

in  thousands  by  age  and  year-class 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Lunar  month 

Tons 

Number 

1958 

1957 

1956 

1955 

1954 

1953 

1952 

1951 

1,298 
1,147 
1,255 
1,317 

821 
4,634 
1,792 
1,646 

415 

19,804 
16,350 
17,591 
19,407 
12,315 
60,207 
20,680 
18,100 
4,554 

1,296 

6,337 

419 

7«6 
415 

9,169 
3,705 
4,363 
9,845 
5,187 
25,351 
5,869 
8,812 
2,168 

10,535 
10,240 
10,550 
7,621 
5,184 
25,349 
11,597 
6,900 
1,653 

80 
2,405 
2,273 
1,494 

648 
3,170 
2,795 
1,155 

318 

20 
289 

447 

116 

•May" 

"July" 

447 

"September  "2 

- 

TOTAL 

14,325 

189.00S 
100.0 

9,253 
4.9 

74,469 
39.4 

89,629 
47.4 

14,338 
7.6 

309 
0.2 

447 
0.2 

116 
0.1 

447 

0.2 

1  From  January  1  only. 
s  To  September  1  only. 


THE  NESTING  OF  CHROMIS  PUNCTIPINNIS  (COOPER) 
AND  A  DESCRIPTION  OF  THEIR  EGGS  AND  LARVAE1 

CHARLES  H.  TURNER 

end 

EARL  E.   EBERT 

Marine  Resources  Operations 

California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game 

The  damselfish  family  Pomacentridae  is  represented  along  our  Cali- 
fornia coast  by  two  commercially  unimportant  species,  the  very  colorful 
and  pugnacious  garibaldi,  Hypsypops  rulicunda,  and  the  less  colorful 

1  Submitted  for  publication  June  1962.  This  work  was  made  possible  with  Federal  Aid 
to  Pish  Restoration  Funds,  Dingell- Johnson  Project  F17R,  "Ocean  Fish  Habitat 
Development." 


FIGURE   1.     A  male  blacksmith  (center  left)   nudging   and   biting   a  gravid  female,  forcing   her 
into  his  nest  site.     (Photo  by  Charles  H.  Turner.) 

(243) 


244 


CALIFORNIA  FISH   AND  GAME 


FIGURE  2.     With  the   spawned-out  female's   departure,  the  male  immediately   positions   himself 
in    the    cave    entrance,    protecting    the    nest   from    intruders    and    fanning    the    eggs.    ("Photo    by 

Charles  H.  Turner.) 


but  equally  pugnacious  blacksmith,  Chromis  punctipinnis.  Garibaldis 
(sometimes  called  ocean  goldfish)  are  protected  by  law  but  it  is  legal 
to  take  blacksmiths.  Although  their  flesh  is  good  quality,  they  are  taken 
only  incidentally  by  fishermen;  their  small  mouths  make  them  difficult 
to  catch.  Characteristically,  pomacentrids  are  oviparous  and  construct 
nests  which  are  closely  guarded  by  the  males  (Breder,  1933). 

While  diving  at  Santa  Catalina  Island  during  the  summer  of  1961, 
the  nesting  behavior  of  Chromis  punctipinnis  was  observed — a  phe- 
nomenon not  previously  described. 

We  first  noted  blacksmith  nests  at  Harbor  Reef,  Santa  Catalina  Is- 
land in  July  and  August,  1961.  This  reef,  consisting  of  large  shale 
shelves  interspersed  with  scattered  15-  to  30-pound  rocks,  rises  to  the 
surface  from  depths  of  over  100  feet.  Blacksmiths  were  building  nests 
under  these  15-  to  30-pound  rocks  from  12  to  at  least  80  feet  beneath 
the  surface,  but  most  nesting  was  between  40  and  50  feet.  Several  dives 
were  made  at  other  localities  along  the  inshore  side  of  Santa  Catalina 
Island  but  no  other  nests  were  located ;  however,  nesting  behavior  was 


BLACKSMITH  NESTING 


245 


FIGURE  3.     A   nest-guarding   male  exhibiting  "masking"   around  the  eyes.     (Photo   by  Charles 

H.  Turner.) 

exhibited  by  adult  male  blacksmiths  at  some  of  those  sites.  The  bottom 
around  the  Harbor  Reef  is  ideally  suited  for  observing  the  nesting 
habits  of  C.  punctipinnis. 

Nests  were  constructed  under  rock  ledges  or  under  the  15-  to  30- 
pound  rocks  that  provided  small  caves.  A  male  would  first  clean  an 
area  well  back  under  the  cave  roof  and  then  force  a  gravid  mature 
female  into  the  site  by  nudging  and  biting  her.  We  could  not  observe 
actual  egg  deposition  because  the  nest  entrances  were  singular  and 
small;  however,  the  eggs  were  attached  by  adhesive  filaments  to  the 
previously  cleaned  area  of  the  cave  roof.  After  the  spawned-out  female 
departed,  the  male  would  position  himself  in  the  nest  opening,  fanning 
the  eggs  with  his  tail  and  keeping  out  predators  by  his  pugnacious 
behavior. 

Temperatures  at  the  nesting  area  ranged  from  10.0° C  to  18.0° C,  de- 
pending upon  depth  and  day. 

The  nestguarding  males  undergo  a  very  conspicuous  color  change. 
From  their  normal  bluish-grey  with  black  flecks  along  the  sides,  they 
transform  into  a  very  pale,  almost  white,  mottled  grey.  Two  pronounced 
dark  bands,  each  about  one-quarter  inch  wide,  show  up  dorsal  and 
slightly  anterior  to  the  eyes,  giving  Chromis  a  "masked"  appearance 
(Figure  3).  If  a  male  is  driven  from  his  nest,  he  quickly  resumes 
normal  coloration. 

Whenever  a  male  was  driven  from  a  nest  site,  fish  converged  on  the 
unguarded  nest  and  devoured  eggs  in  a  wild  frenzy.  Leading  the  assault 


246 


CALIFORNIA   FISH   AND   GAME 


were  other  blacksmiths  who  seemed  to  relish  the  eggs,  particularly- 
mature  ones.  Other  fish  preying  on  the  eggs  were  serioritas,  Oxyjulis 
calif  or  nica,  sheepheads,  Pimelometopon  pulchrum,  and  garibaldis.  The 
returning  male  was  very  aggressive  towards  these  fish  regardless  of 
their  size. 

Immature  eggs  were  apparently  easily  guarded  by  the  male;  how- 
ever, when  the  first  hatching  larvae  swam  out  of  the  nest  cave  they 
attracted  predators  to  the  area.  Blacksmiths  and  other  fish  then 
ganged-up  on  the  nesting  male.  The  larvae  were  eaten  as  they  left  the 
cave  and  the  predators  tried  to  swim  down  this  "food  stream,"  past 
the  guarding  male,  to  its  source. 

Although  Limbaugh  (1955)  excised  cherry  red  eggs  from  mature 
females  in  June  and  July,  he  was  unable  to  locate  their  nests.  We  found 
that  the  freshly  spawned  eggs  were  salmon  pink  in  color,  oblong  in 
shape,  and  had  up  to  seven  filaments  at  one  end.  The  egg  filaments 
attached  to  each  other  in  such  a  way  they  formed  a  larger  central  cord 
which  adhered  to  the  substrate.  A  nest  was  composed  of  numerous  cords 


eft. 


FIGURE  4.      When   the    rocky    roof   of   the    nest   site    is    overturned    the   strings   of   eggs    (arrow) 
are   easily   visible.    Blacksmiths   "flock"   to   the    unguarded    nest   to   feed    upon   the    eggs.      (Photo 

by  Charles  H.  Turner.) 


BLACKSMITH  NESTING 


247 


FIGURE  5. 


An  entire  egg   mass  just  after  its  removal  from  the   nest  site.  For  size   comparison 
the  white  sheet  is  8  by  1 1  inches.     (Photo  by  Charles  H.  Turner.) 


and  had  the  appearance  of  several  bunches  of  tiny  grapes.  Fifty  eggs 
were  randomly  sampled  from  one  nest,  these  averaged  1.22  mm  long, 
ranging  from  1.14  to  1.32  mm.  We  estimated  there  were  615,000  eggs 
per  nest  and  because  of  these  numbers  and  the  fact  they  were  in  several 
stages  of  development  we  felt  that  at  least  two,  and  probably  three  or 
four,  females  had  been  induced  to  spawn  at  each  nest.  Such  large 
numbers  are  usually  atypical  for  nest-building  species. 

As  C.  punctipinnis  eggs  mature,  they  become  opaque  and  whitish; 
eyes  show  up  as  black  spots  inside  each  egg.  Just  prior  to  hatching  the 
entire  egg  mass  appears  greyish  because  of  the  eyes  and  numerous 
melanophores  that  have  developed  along  the  ventral  surface  of  the 
embryo.  Newly-hatched  larvae  are  about  3.06  mm  long.  In  these,  the 
mouth  is  terminal,  the  anal  area  is  well-forward,  the  yolk  sac  is  almost 
gone,  and  the  finfold  is  continuous  around  the  body — only  the  pectoral 
fins  are  differentiated  (Figure  7).  Blacksmith  larvae  and  juveniles  to 
one-half  inch  long  were  noted  in  the  area  during  all  of  our  observa- 
tions. The  young  are  bi-colored  :  anteriorly  a  bluish-grey  and  posteriorly 
a  brassy  orange.  We  commonly  have  observed  one-inch  long  specimens 


248 


CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 


in  Santa  Monica  Bay  during  October  and  November  where  they  form 
loose  small  schools  and  remain  close  to  protective  cover.  Limbaugh 
(1955)  reported  that  blacksmiths  mature  at  5.5  inches  at  a  probable 
age  of  two  years.  The  largest  specimens  we  have  observed  were  about 
12  inches.  An  11^  incher  taken  in  Monterey  Bay  was  in  its  7th  year;  it 
had  first  spawned  in  its  third  year. 


FIGURE  6.     Eggs   from   one   nest   in   four   different  developmental   stages   on   August   2,    1961. 


FIGURE  7.      Just-hatched  larva,  3.06  mm  total  length. 


LITERATURE  CITED 

Breder,  C.  M.  Jr.,  and  C.  W.  Coates 

1933.     Reproduction  and  eggs  of  Pomacentrus  leucoris.  Amer.  Mus.  Nov.,  no.  612, 
pp.  1-6. 
Limbaugh,  Conrad 

1955.     Fish  life  in  the  kelp  beds  and  the  effects  of  kelp  harvesting.  Univ.  Calif., 
La  Jolla,  I.M.R.  Ref.  55-9,  158  pp. 


THE  NESTING  BEHAVIOR,  EGGS  AND  LARVAE 
OF  THE  BLUESPOT  GOBY1 

EARL  E.  EBERT 

and 

CHARLES  H.  TURNER 

Marine  Resources  Operations 

California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game 

Bluespot  gobies,  Coryphopterus  nicholsi  (Bean),  belong  to  the  widely- 
distributed  fish  family  Gobiidae,  a  group  inhabiting  tropical  and  tem- 
perate waters  throughout  the  world;  12  species  of  gobies  have  been 
recorded  from  California  waters  (Roedel,  1953).  Gobies  are  char- 
acterized by  having  their  pelvic  fins  completely  joined  to  each  other. 

Coryphopterus  can  be  distinguished  from  other  local  gobies  by  its 
big  scales,  dark  crested  dorsal  and  large  black  eyes.  A  fleshy  dorsal 

1  Submitted  for  publication  June  1962.  This  work  was  made  possible  with  Federal  Aid 
to  Fish  Restoration  Funds,  Dingell-Johnson  Project  Calif.  F17R,  "Ocean  Fish 
Habitat  Development." 


FIGURE   1.     A  4-inch   adult  bluespot  goby   in  its  nesting   area.   (Photo   by  Charles  H.   Turner.) 

(249) 


250  CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 

ridge  extends  from  just  behind  the  eyes  to  the  insertion  of  the  slightly- 
elongated  dorsal  fin.  Underwater  it  is  grey-white  to  pale  yellow  in  color. 
The  pelvic  fins,  usually  dusky,  darken  on  the  male  during  the  breeding 
season.  Adults  attain  maximum  lengths  of  about  6  inches. 

Bluespot  gobies  range  from  San  Martin  Island,  Baja  California,  to 
British  Columbia  and  adults  live  intertidally  and  to  depths  over  200 
feet  (Limbaugh,  1955).  Although  adults  are  usually  considered  bottom 
dwellers,  juveniles  are  occasionally  taken  in  plankton  nets  far  at  sea. 
One  inch-long  juvenile  was  found  in  the  stomach  of  an  albacore  caught 
on  Davidson  Seamount,  60  miles  SW  of  Point  Sur.  Although  this  sea- 
mount  rises  to  within  745  fathoms  of  the  surface  it  is  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  2000-fathom  water. 

Apparently  Coryphopterus  nicholsi  is  an  old  inhabitant  of  our 
waters;  fossil  otoliths  have  been  identified  from  the  San  Diego  forma- 
tion, a  Pliocene  deposit  estimated  between  8  and  12  million  years  old. 
Additional  fossil  otoliths,  20  in  material  screened  from  Timms  Point, 
San  Pedro  (Lower  Pleistoscene)  and  1  from  Baldwin  Hills,  Los  Angeles 
(Upper  Pleistocene),  attest  to  its  antiquity  (John  E.  Fitch,  personal 
communication) . 

Although  eggs  and  larvae  of  some  western  Atlantic  gobiids  have  been 
described  (Hildebrand,  1938),  nothing  has  been  recorded  for  Cory- 
phopterus. 

We  made  all  field  observations  while  using  SCUBA  (self  contained 
underwater  breathing  apparatus)  in  Santa  Monica  Bay  while  rou- 
tinely checking  artificial  reefs  placed  at  strategic  localities  through- 
out the  bay.  Entire  nests  were  brought  to  the  laboratory  and  the  eggs 
placed  in  5  percent  formalin.  Drawings  were  made  from  preserved  ma- 
terial. 

We  observed  breeding  during  the  spring,  summer  and  fall  and  found 
nests  from  April  through  October.  These  were  off  Hermosa  Beach  and 
Santa  Monica  in  60  feet  of  water,  attached  to  the  undersides  of  rocks 
on  our  artificial  reefs.  Water  temperatures  at  the  nest  sites  ranged  from 
12.9°  to  14.6°C. 

We  noted  that  males  would  select  a  rock  for  a  nest  site,  hollow  out  a 
small  depression  beneath  it,  and  then  clean  its  underside;  later  the 
female  would  attach  her  eggs  to  this  cleaned  undersurface  (Figure  2). 

During  courtship,  the  male  would  rise  straight  off  the  bottom  a  few 
inches  and  settle  back  again,  attracting  the  female's  attention  by 
spreading  his  dorsal  and  blackened  pelvic  fins  which  are  quite  striking 
at  this  time. 

In  an  aquarium,  a  male  frantically  rushed  across  the  tank  at  a  female 
and  then  returned  to  his  starting  place  apparently  in  an  attempt  to 
stimulate  her  and  force  her  into  the  nest  area  he  had  selected.  (David 
Powell,  Marineland  of  the  Pacific,  pers.  commun.) 

After  the  female  attaches  her  eggs,  the  male  remains  on  guard  and 
fans  the  nest  to  keep  water  circulating  around  the  eggs.  When  dis- 
turbed, he  will  retreat  into  the  "nest-cave"  to  protect  his  family.  If 
the  nest  site  is  molested,  the  male  swims  away  about  a  yard,  becomes 
quite  excited,  and  will  not  return  to  the  "nest-cave"  for  several 
minutes. 

Nests  average  4  inches  in  diameter,  are  roughly  circular,  and  are 
made  up  of  a  single  layer  of  eggs.  The  oblong  eggs,  pointed  at  both 


GOBY  NESTING 


251 


N'JO 


FIGURE  2.      By   overturning    the    nest-cave    roof,   the    single-layered    nest    of    eggs   (outlined)    is 

visible.  A  sheephead  and  rockfish,  upper  left,  are  showing  considerable  interest  in  the  exposed 

nest.      (Photo  by  Charles  H.  Turner.) 

ends,  are  attached  directly  to  the  rock  but  do  not  have  adhesive  threads. 
Immature  eggs  gave  the  nest  a  faded-pink  appearance  while  mature 
nests  were  greyish  due  to  pigment  on  the  developing  embryos. 

The  earliest  stages  we  observed  were  of  recently  differentiated  em- 
bryos at  a  time  when  the  yolk  filled  only  a  small  portion  of  the  egg 
sac.  Excess  space  is  rapidly  used  as  the  embryo  develops,  resulting  in 
the  tail  curling  back  on  the  body  in  advanced  stages.  A  well-formed  em- 
byro,  prior  to  hatching,  nearly  fills  its  egg  case. 

Mature  eggs  average  2.10  mm  long  by  0.48  mm  wide.  The  embyro 
within  each  mature  egg  is  2.97  mm  long  and  its  head  is  directed  op- 
posite (downward)  the  pole  of  attachment. 

The  larva  is  released  when  its  enveloping  egg  sac  splits  in  a  median 
plane.  The  attached  end  remains  on  the  substrate,  later  disolving,  and 
the  larva  drops  out  and  swims  away. 

Newly-hatched  larvae  are  2.97  mm  long,  have  prominent,  large  eyes 
and  almost  transparent  bodies  (Figure  4).  A  line  of  pigment  extends 
posteriorly  over  the  yolk  sac  then  curves  downward  to  the  base  of  the 
ventral  finfold,  ending  in  the  caudal  region.  There  is  another  short 
line  of  pigment  near  the  caudal  peduncle  at  the  dorsal  finfold  base.  The 


252 


CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 


FIGURE  3.      Top:    Developing    embryo.  The   egg    case   is   2.10   mm    long    by   0.48    mm   wide;    its 

yolk   is  0.30  by  0.42   mm   and   the  embryo   is   1.05    mm   long.   Bottom:   Maturing    embryo.   There 

are  melanophores  ventrally  and  the  black  eyes  are  prominent. 

air  bladder  and  gut  are  visible  posterior  to  the  yolk  which,  at  this  time, 
is  little  larger  than  the  eye.  The  vent  is  slightly  closer  to  the  snout  than 
the  tail.  The  well-developed  mouth  is  terminal,  a  normal  position  for 
this  species. 

We  calculated  there  were  1,700  eggs  per  nest  and  believe  that  only 
one  female  was  involved,  although  fecundity  was  not  determined. 


FIGURE   4.      Just-hatched  larva  2.97  mm  total  length. 


REFERENCES 
Bohlke,  James  E.,  and  C.  R.  Robins 

1960.  A  revision  of  the  gobioid  fish  genus  Coryphopterus.  Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci. 
Phila.,  vol.  112,  no.  5,  pp.  103-128. 

Clemens,  W.  A.  and  G.  V.  Wilby 

1961.  Fishes  of  the  Pacific  coast  of  Canada.   Fish.   Res.   Bd.   Canada,  Bull.  68 
(second  edit.),  443  pp. 

Roedel,  Phil  M. 

1953.     Common  ocean  fishes  of  the  California  coast.  Calif.  Dept.  Fish  and  Game, 
Fish  Bull.  91,  184  pp. 
Hildebrand,  Samuel  F.  and  Louella  E.  Cable 

1938.     Further  notes  on   the   development   and   life   history   of   some   teleosts   at 
Beaufort,  N.C.  Bull.  U.S.  Bur.  Fish.,  vol.  48,  no.  24,  pp.  543-573. 

Hubbs,  Carl  L. 

1926.     Notes  on  the  gobioid  fishes  of  California  with  description  of  the  two  new 
genera.  Univ.  Mich.,  Occas.  Pap.  Mus.  Zool.,  vol.  169,  pp.  1-6. 
Limbaugh,  Conrad 

1955.     Fish  life  in  the  kelp  beds  and  the  effect  of  kelp  harvesting.  Univ.  Calif. 
La  Jolla,  I.M.R.  Ref.  55-9,  158  pp. 


ESTIMATING  THE  NUMBER  OF  ANGLING  LICENSE 
PURCHASERS1 

NORMAN  J.  ABRAMSON 

Marine  Resources  Operations 

California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game 

INTRODUCTION 

The  number  of  persons  purchasing  California  angling  licenses  is  of 
particular  interest  in  relation  to  Federal  Aid  to  Fish  Restoration  funds 
which  are  allocated  according  to  number  of  license  purchasers  rather 
than  number  of  licenses  sold.  California  issues  three  types  of  special 
angling  licenses  in  addition  to  the  regular  resident  license.  Because  of 
the  nature  of  these  special  licenses  (3-day  ocean  waters  only,  10-day 
nonresident,  annual  nonresident),  some  individuals  probably  purchase 
more  than  one  of  them.  The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  provide  an 
estimate  of  the  number  of  distinct  persons  who  bought  special  licenses 
during  1961. 

ESTIMATION  METHOD 

The  estimation  method  I  applied  to  the  problem  utilizes  only  infor- 
mation obtained  by  examining  a  sample  of  license  stubs.  This  may  be 
likened  to  solving  a  problem  involving  N  balls  of  k  different  colors  in 
an  urn.  There  are  n1  balls  of  the  first  color,  n2  balls  of  the  second  color 
and  nk  balls  of  the  kth  color,      k 

£  nj  =  N. 

Assume  N  is  known  and  estimate  k,  the  number  of  colors,  from  a  sample 
of  n  balls.  To  see  the  analogy  with  the  license  problem,  associate  balls 
with  licenses  and  colors  with  license  purchasers. 

A  theoretically  more  efficient  method,  which  involves  querying  a 
sample  of  licensees  regarding  the  number  of  licenses  they  purchased, 
could  have  been  employed.  However,  such  a  method  would  have  required 
either  a  high-cost  field  survey  or  a  mail  survey  with  possible  large 
nonresponse  error.  Furthermore,  surveys  requiring  the  respondent  to 
recall  events  of  a  past  year  may  produce  bias  due  to  memory  failure. 
Mosteller  (1949)  discussed  solutions  to  the  urn  problem  as  well  as  the 
survey  method   and  gave  some  results   from  experimental  sampling. 

Goodman  (1949)  derived  the  unique  unbiased  estimator  for  k  in  the 
urn  problem.  Unfortunately  this  may  give  very  unreasonable  estimates 
and  is  too  erratic  for  practical  use.  He  also  presented  a  modification 
of  the  unbiased  estimator  which,  though  not  unbiased,  always  gives 
reasonable  results.  The  modified  estimator,  which  was  deemed  suitable 

1  Submitted  for  publication  June  1962. 


(253  ) 


254  CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 

for  estimating  the  number  of  persons  purchasing  special  angling  licenses 
during  1961,  is 


s'  =  — ^7 7T~  x2        if  s'  >   laX 


A 

k'  = 


n(n—\) 


j^i 


UXi  if  s'  <  Li  Xi 

i—  1  i—  I 

where  N  is  the  number  of  special  licenses  in  the  population,  n  is  the 
number  of  licenses  sampled  and  Xi  is  the  number  of  persons  in  the  sample 
who  purchased  i  licenses.  To  estimate  the  ratio  of  license  purchasers  to 

A  A 

licenses,  p'  =  k'/N  was  used. 

Raj    (1961)    derived    an    unbiased    estimator    for    the    variance    of 

x2[N(N—  l)]/[n(n—  1)]  under  the  assumption  that  n,<2  for  all  j.  We 

have  used  his  formula, 

a  fN(N-l)     -|2r  n(n-l)    (JV— 2)  (JV-3)  -| 

V^  =  Ln(n-l)  *2J    L1       N(N-1)  (n-2)  (n-3)    J 

,   N(N-1)       r(N-2)  (N-3)         1 
+   n(n-l)     2L(n-2)  (n-3)  J 

as  an  approximation  to  the  variance  of  s'.  The  approximation  will  be  close 
if  very  few  persons  purchased  more  than  two  special  licenses.  It  should 
also  be  noted  that  the  mean  square  error  of  k '  is  less  than  MSE(s ') .  Sim- 

A  A 

ilarly,  the  variance  of  s'/N  was  approximated  by  V(s')/N2  and  MSE(p  ) 
<  MSE(s'/N). 

ESTIMATES  FOR  1961 

Of  142,597  special  angling  licenses  sold  during  1961,  134,936  license 
stubs  were  available  for  sampling.  A  sample  of  7,500  including  seven 
illegible  stubs  was  randomly  selected.  Examination  of  the  sample  revealed 
52  pairs  purchased  by  the  same  persons  and  one  quadruplicate.  Thus, 
JV  =  134,936,  n  =  7,493,  Xi  =  7,385,  x2  =  52  and  x4  =  1.  Computing  the 
components  of  k',  we  obtain  2  x{  =  7,438  and  s'  =  118,070.  Then,  be- 
cause s'  >  S  xif  the  estimated  number  of  persons  purchasing  134,936 
special  licenses  in  1961  is  k'  =  s'  =  118,070.  The  estimated  ratio  of  license 
purchasers  to  licenses  is  p'  =  .875.  With  respect  to  the  bias  oMhese 
estimates,  it  can  be  shown  that  for  the  iV  and  n  of  this  problem,  k'  and 
p'  tend  to  yield  underestimates.  Further,  if  the  number  of  persons  pur- 
chasing three  or  more  licenses  is  small,  the  bias  will  be  negligible  relative 
to  the  estimate. 

A  A 

The  approximate  standard  errors  of  k'  and  p'  are  2,305  and  .017 
respectively. 


ESTIMATING  LICENSE  BUYERS  255 

SUMMARY 

An  estimated  118,070  persons  purchased  134,936  special  California 
angling  licenses  during  1961.  The  corresponding  ratio  of  license  pur- 
chasers to  licenses  is  0.875.  Approximate  standard  errors  of  the  number 
of  purchasers  and  the  ratio  are  2,305  and  .017,  respectively.  Estimates 
were  obtained  from  a  random  sample  of  7,493  license  stubs  using  a 
method  involving  examining  the  sample  for  persons  purchasing  more 
than  one  license. 

REFERENCES 
Goodman,  Leo  A. 

1949.    On  the  estimation  of  the  number  of  classes  in  a  population.  Ann.  Math. 
Stat.,  vol.  20,  no.  4,  pp.  572-579. 
Mosteller,  Frederick 

1949.    Questions  and  answers.  Amer.  Stat.,  vol.  3,  no.  3,  pp.  12-13. 
Raj,  Des 

1961.    On  matching  lists  by  samples.  Amer.  Stat.  Assoc,  Jour.,  vol.  56,  no.  293, 
pp.  151-155. 


POTENTIAL   PROFITS  IN  THE  CALIFORNIA 
SALMON  FISHERY1 

DONALD   H.   FRY,  JR. 

Marine  Resources  Branch 

California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game 

INTRODUCTION 

More  and  more  water  and  power  projects  are  being  built  in  Cali- 
fornia. Many  of  these  will  put  dams  in  the  paths  of  migrating  fish, 
flood  out  their  spawning  areas  and  divert  their  spawning  streams.  In 
such  instances,  the  Department  of  Fish  and  Game  is  legally  required 
to  order  the  construction  agency  to  take  appropriate  steps  to  mini- 
mize damage  to  fish  life  by  installing  fishways,  fish  screens  or  fish 
hatcheries.  Other  state  and  federal  statutes  require  the  Department 
to  report  on  and  recommend  other  protective  or  compensating  measures, 
including  water  releases  to  maintain  fish  life,  and  suggest  changes 
in  the  project's  design  and  operation  to  maintain  and  enhance  these 
resources. 

The  Department  is  not  required  to  demonstrate  the  cash  value  of 
these  fish  in  order  to  take  steps  to  save  them.  Neither  is  the  U.S.  Coast 
Guard  required  to  demonstrate  that  a  sailor  on  a  sinking  ship  is  worth 
what  it  will  cost  to  rescue  him.  In  either  instance,  the  victim's  death 
would  be  apt  to  occur  before  the  matter  could  be  settled.  This  does 
not  mean  the  Department  can  ignore  the  species  or  numbers  of  fish 
involved.  Often,  extensive  studies  must  be  carried  out  in  order  to 
determine  how  best  to  provide  for  fish  runs,  but  such  studies  are  based 
primarily  on  biology  and  engineering  rather  than  on  economics. 

Sometimes  when  studying  a  project  it  becomes  evident  that  not  only 
can  runs  be  maintained  but  by  spending  a  bit  more  money  they  can 
be  increased.  At  this  point,  economics  become  of  primary  importance. 
Government  agencies  are  required  to  regard  fish  production  as  one  of 
the  beneficial  uses  of  water.  If,  in  a  state  or  federal  project,  an  addi- 
tional expenditure  would  increase  the  run  above  its  former  (pre- 
project)  level  and  the  extra  fish  produced  would  more  than  offset 
the  cost  of  producing  them,  there  is  an  excellent  chance  that  money 
to  increase  the  run  will  be  forthcoming.  Conversely,  if  the  cost  of 
providing  extra  fish  exceeds  their  value,  the  project  will  usually  supply 
finances  to  maintain  the  run  at  its  natural  level — but  no  more. 

Once  the  cost  of  producing  extra  fish  is  known,  the  problem  can  be 
settled  by  determining  the  value  of  each  fish.  Unfortunately  there  are 
all  too  many  ways  to  calculate  this,  and  the  answers  are  ridiculously 
far  apart.  For  commercially-caught  salmon,  values  from  zero  to  well 

1  An  evaluation  of  the  fishery  based  on  a  method  suggested  by  Dr.  James  Crutchfield, 
Associate  Professor  of  Economics,  University  of  Washington,  Seattle.  Submitted 
for  publication  May  1962. 

(256) 


POTENTIAL    SALMON    PROFITS  257 

above  the  retail  cost-per-pound  have  been  seriously  suggested.  In  this 
paper,  I  will  present  a  method  of  evaluating  commercial  salmon ;  sport- 
caught  fish  pose  altogether  different  problems  and  will  not  be  dis- 
cussed. 

Quite  logically,  men  who  evaluate  water  projects  want  to  be  able 
to  appraise  the  fisheries  involved  by  methods  comparable  to  those 
used  on  other  parts  of  the  project.  Most  values  assigned  to  water,  for 
example,  are  based  on  the  increased  profits  that  will  be  realized.  A  plot 
of  land  will  ordinarily  produce  more  if  irrigated  than  if  dry-farmed, 
but  the  costs  of  farming  will  be  greater.  Profits  due  to  irrigating  are 
calculated  by  deducting  the  extra  expenses  from  the  extra  money 
gained  from  the  larger  (or  different)  crop.  Commercial  fisheries'  values, 
on  the  other  hand,  have  usually  been  expressed  by  the  Department  of 
Fish  and  Game  as  the  total  received  for  the  fish  at  dockside,  or  some- 
times at  the  wholesale  level,  with  no  deductions  for  the  cost  of  catch- 
ing them.  On  occasion  this  has  led  to  the  fisheries  receiving  little  con- 
sideration because  no  one  had  calculated  the  profits  involved.  Some 
economists  have  insisted  that,  according  to  economic  standards  some- 
times used  in  business,  many  fisheries  (including  salmon)  have  no  value 
because  the  fishermen  could  have  made  as  much  or  more  at  almost  any 
other  job — the  fishermen  were,  in  effect,  running  a  small  business, 
paying  themselves  a  bare  minimum  wage  for  long  hours  of  hard  work 
and,  on  the  average,  making  no  money  whatever  on  their  investment. 

Some  American  traditions  and  laws  tend  to  reduce  a  fisherman's 
cash  profit  (above  day  wages)  to  the  vanishing  point.  Truly  efficient 
fishing  gear  is  outlawed  in  the  interests  of  conservation  or  to  spread 
employment  among  as  many  people  as  possible.  In  California,  for 
example,  commercial  fishermen  may  take  salmon  only  by  trolling — a 
grossly  inefficient  method  made  a  trifle  less  so  by  a  large  investment 
in  mechanized  gear  and  electronic  fishing  aids.  There  is  no  limitation 
on  the  number  of  men  who  may  enter  this  business.  If  too  many  do 
enter  it,  catches  of  individual  fishermen  fall  off  and  the  least  efficient 
or  most  easily  discouraged  individuals  drop  out.  If  the  dictates  of 
conservation  demand  it,  the  State  may  hasten  the  process  by  shorten- 
ing the  season.  Limiting  the  number  of  boats  and  thus  letting  each 
make  a  fair  living  would  be  one  approach — but  our  society  has  not 
chosen  to  use  it.  We  do  use  this  approach  in  some  businesses  such  as 
radio  and  television  stations,  liquor  stores,  and  power  plants.  It  is 
often  against  the  profits  of  a  power-plant  monopoly  that  fisheries' 
profits  are  compared. 

A  farmer  is  allowed  to  own  or  lease  land  and  manage  it  as  efficiently 
as  he  is  able.  His  crop  is  not  open  to  harvest  by  anyone  who  comes 
along.  A  fisherman  has  no  such  protection  even  though  his  investment 
in  boat  and  gear  may  exceed  the  cost  of  a  farm.  He  must  share  the 
harvest  with  everyone  who.  enters  the  fishery  and  is  often  compelled 
by  law  to  operate  very  inefficiently. 

Obviously,  if  the  net  economic  yield  concept  is  to  be  used  to  com- 
pare such  differently  managed  businesses  as  power  generation,  farming 
and  commercial  fishing,  it  must  be  modified.  For  commercial  fishing 
this  could  be  done  by  calculating  the  profits  a  fishery  would  realize  if 
it  operated  as  a  virtual  monopoly,  if  it  used  the  most  efficient  gear  and 


258  CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 

if  the  eatcli  were  adjusted  to  that  which  the  resource  could  continuously 
produce  under  best  management  practices.  For  the  salmon  fishery  of 
California's  Central  Valley,  such  profits  can  be  calculated  without 
wandering  too  far  into  fields  of  conjecture. 

A  HYPOTHETICAL  SALMON  FISHERY 

I  will  describe  a  fishery  which  has  been  proven  efficient.  I  am  not 
proposing  that  such  a  fishery  be  created;  it  is  only  used  as  a  method  to 
calculate  the  potential  net  benefits  of  the  resource — nothing  else  is 
implied. 

Assume  that  all  commercial  trolling  was  stopped  and  all  commercial 
catches  were  made  where  they  could  be  taken  most  efficiently.  The 
Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Delta  would  be  an  excellent  area — the  fish 
are  still  in  prime  condition  (they  are  mature  and  have  reached  their 
maximum  growth).  A  fishery  would  get  maximum  production  out  of 
Sacramento-San  Joaquin  fish.  It  would  not  harvest  fish  from  other 
California  rivers,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  similar  but  smaller 
fisheries  could  not  be  established  in  other  streams. 

Salmon  in  inland  waters  could  be  caught  by  many  methods.  Some 
of  these  are  proven  ones,  having  been  used  either  in  California  or  other 
parts  of  the  world.  Even  electrical  fishing  could  be  considered  in  a 
study  to  determine  the  cheapest  way  to  harvest  fish ;  however,  I  have 
chosen  proven  methods  for  this  model  in  order  to  be  on  firmer  ground 
when  calculating  costs.  Some  which  might  be  used  are : 

Salmon  traps  similar  to  those  recently  used  in  Alaska  were  once 
used  in  California  but  were  not  particularly  effective  in  this  State 
and  were  gradually  being  abandoned  when  the  Legislature  outlawed 
them. 

A  dam  with  a  fishway.  This  would  have  to  be  constructed  upstream 
from  the  levee  system  controlling  the  lower  river.  Fish  taken  this  far 
upstream  would  be  approaching  spawning  condition  and  their  desir- 
ability would  be  greatly  reduced.  Furthermore,  capital  investment 
would  be  very  high,  particularly  because  several  streams  would  have 
to  be  dammed. 

Fishwheels  have  not  been  proven  on  the  Sacramento.  In  any  event, 
suitable  sites  are  so  far  upstream  that  fish  quality  would  have  deterio- 
rated badly. 

Beach  seines  once  met  with  moderate  success  but  would  never  harvest 
the  entire  crop.  There  are  not  enough  suitable  seining  sites  in  the  Delta 
or  in  the  lower  Sacramento  River. 

Gill  nets  were  the  only  gear  which  proved  successful  for  many 
decades  in  the  inland  waters  of  the  Central  Valley.  Legislation  reduced 
their  effectiveness  through  the  years,  and  gill-net  fishermen  had  to  be 
content  with  salmon  that  had  escaped  the  expanding  troll  fishery. 
Finally,  in  1957  salmon  gill-netting  was  outlawed  completely.  A  small 
gill-net  fleet  could  be  very  effective  if  it  operated  to  take  the  maximum 
sustainable  yield  for  the  lowest  reasonable  cost. 

In  the  last  decades  of  the  fishery,  many  gill-netters  operated  from 
Carquinez  Strait  to  Pittsburg — an  area  with  much  open  water  which 
gave  the  fish  a  chance  to  scatter.  Carquinez  Strait  is  narrow  but  it  is 
deep,  has  violent  tides  and  such  heavy  boat  traffic  that  the  ship  channel 


POTENTIAL  SALMON  PROFITS  259 

must  be  kept  free  of  nets.  In  the  strait  and  other  downstream  areas, 
the  boats  had  first  chance  at  migrating  fish  but  they  were  fishing  in 
the  large  end  of  the  funnel.  Farther  upstream  in  the  Sacramento  River, 
from  Collinsville  to  Rio  Vista  and  corresponding  places  on  the  San 
Joaquin,  the  boats  were  at  the  small  end  of  the  funnel  but  were  catching 
only  those  fish  that  had  escaped  trollers  and  downstream  gill-netters. 
To  make  sure  they  did  not  catch  too  many  salmon,  gill-netters  were 
required  to  stop  fishing  on  weekends.2  The  season  closed  September  26 — 
at  the  peak  of  the  fall  migration — and  did  not  open  till  November  15, 
by  which  time  the  run  was  down  to  a  dribble.  There  was  another  closed 
season  in  early  summer,  but  not  nearly  as  many  fish  were  moving  at 
that  time.  All  these  restrictive  measures  (closed  seasons,  closed  areas, 
etc.)  were  imposed  largely  because  there  were  too  many  boats. 

Assume  that  instead  of  a  large  fleet  scattered  over  a  wide  area,  a 
small  fleet  fished  in  the  small  end  of  the  funnel.  Assume  that  instead 
of  having  two  lengthy  closed  seasons,  the  fleet  was  kept  small  enough 
to  permit  the  necessary  escapement.  This  could  be  done  by  restricting 
the  number  of  boats  fishing  when  salmon  were  relatively  scarce.  The 
weekend  closure  could  be  lengthened  when  more  escapement  was  needed 
and  eliminated  in  times  of  excessive  abundance.  Assume  also  that  this 
fleet  was  manned  exclusively  by  competent  fishermen.  Such  a  fleet  could 
harvest  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  at  a  very  low  cost. 

WHAT  WOULD  BE  THE  SIZE  OF  THE  HARVEST? 

Obviously  if  there  were  no  troll  fishery,  many  more  salmon  would 
enter  the  Delta.  Tagging  and  marking  experiments  have  demonstrated 
that  landings  of  salmon  produced  in  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  River 
system  exceed  the  total  salmon  from  all  sources  which  are  landed  in 
California.  In  other  words,  tonnages  of  Central  Valley  salmon  taken 
by  trollers  off  Oregon,  "Washington,  and  Canada  exceed  all  California 
catches  of  salmon  from  rivers  outside  the  valley.  Extensive  additional 
analysis  and  possibly  some  additional  marking  experiments  will  be 
needed  to  demonstrate  the  amount  of  this  excess,  so  for  this  study 
total  state  salmon  landings  will  be  used  as  a  measure  of  how  many 
pounds  could  be  taken  in  the  Delta  if  there  were  no  troll  fishery.  This 
is  a  minimum  figure,  not  only  for  the  reason  given  above  but  because 
trollers  keep  many  5-pound  salmon  that  two  years  later  would  weigh 
20.  In  some  years,  the  average  weights  of  gill-netted  salmon  were  almost 
twice  those  of  troll-caught  fish.  Furthermore,  many  still-smaller  fish 
are  unintentionally  killed  in  the  course  of  being  hooked,  unhooked,  and 
returned  to  the  water. 

Average  salmon  landings  over  the  10  years  1952-1961  were  7,895,000 
pounds,  which  will  be  used  as  the  average  catch  of  our  hypothetical 
gill-net  fleet  operating  in  the  Delta. 

How  would  the  catch  be  distributed  through  the  year?  To  determine 
this,  the  monthly  gill-net  catch  of  each  of  the  last  10  complete  years 
of  the  fishery  (1947  through  1956)  was  expressed  as  a  percent  of  that 
year's  total  catch  and  then  averaged  (column  1,  Table  1).  During  this 
period,  there  were  closed  seasons  during  all  of  July  and  October,  half 

•Weekly  closed  periods  are  useful  to  permit  escapement  and  should  probably  be  re- 
tained even  with  a  much  smaller  fleet. 


260 


CALIFORNIA    FTSII   AND   GAME 


TABLE   1 

Theoretical  Catch  of  a  Gill  Net  Fishery  Operating  All  Year 


Col.  1 

Col.  2 

Col.  3 

Col.  4 

Average 

percent  of 

yearly  catch 

1946-1955 

Column  1 

expanded 

for  closed 

periods 

Calculated 

average 

percent  of 

yearly  catch 

Catcli  per 

month 

calculated 

from  Col.  3 

.69 
2.15 
1.88 
3.15 
5.62 
1.05 

7.10 
76.53 

.77 
1.06 

.09 

2.15 

1.88 

3.15 

5.02 

2.101 

0.052 

10.00' 

88.304 

54.035 

1.54« 

1.06 

.39 

1.21 

1.06 

1.78 

3.17 

1.18 

3.41 

5.64 

49.85 

30.84 

.87 

.60 

31,000 

96,000 

84,000 

141,000 

250,000 

93,000 

209,000 

445,000 

September,   

October 

November 

3,935,000 

2,435,000 

69,000 

47,000 

100.00 

177.17 

100.00 

7,895,000 

1  June — Col.  1  doubled  (15  days  closed). 

2  July — Interpolated  between  June  and  August  (after  expanding  Avg.). 
8  Aug. — x  31/22   (9  days  closed). 

*  Sept. — x  30/26   (4  days  closed) 

5  Oct. — Used   ratio   of   Sept.   to   Oct.    catches  taken   by   Fish    and    Game   employees   in 

tagging  traps  operated  in  the  lower  Sacramento  River  1953-1956. 

6  Nov. — Doubled  (15  days  closed). 

of  June  and  November,  the  first  nine  days  of  August  and  the  last  four 
days  of  September.  To  make  a  somewhat  better  estimate  of  the  probable 
catch  of  a  gill-net  fleet  operating  throughout  the  year,  the  June  and 
November  catches  were  doubled,  the  August  catch  wa.s  multiplied  by 
31/22  and  the  September  catch  by  30/26.  The  July  catch  is  an  interpo- 
lation between  those  of  June  and  August  since  trap  catches  made  by 
Fish  and  Game  personnel  in  the  lower  Sacramento  River  indicated  the 
run  was  gradually  picking  up  over  this  period.  The  October  catch  was 
estimated  by  averaging  our  September  and  October  trap  catches  for 
four  years  and  using  the  ratio  of  the  average  September  to  the  average 
October  catch  (column  2).3  Since  this  yielded  177.17  percent,  it  was 
reduced  to  100  percent  by  multiplying  each  month's  catch  by  100/177.17 
(column  3).  Finally,  the  last  column  contains  the  theoretical  monthly 
poundages  that  would  be  landed,  assuming  a  total  catch  of  7,895,000 
pounds.  These  figures  will  be  used  even  though  the  total  catch  probably 
could  be  greater  because  only  full-grown  fish  would  be  harvested. 


HOW  MANY  BOATS  WOULD  BE  REQUIRED? 

The  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  gill-net  fleet  increased  from  about  100 
boats  in  1872  to  about  750  in  100!)  and  then  gradually  declined  to  about 
150  in  the  mid-30 's.  In  1946,  each  of  242  boats  landed  1,000  pounds  or 

*  See  Hallock,  Fry,  and  LaFaunce  (1957).  The  traps  were  fished  through  September 
and  October  in  each  of  four  years,  but  were  operated  from  June  through  August 
in  only  one  year. 


POTENTIAL  SALMON  PROFITS  261 

more  for  the  season.4  The  1909  fleet,  presumably  oar  or  sail  powered, 
covered  a  much  larger  area  than  was  legally  fishable  in  later  decades, 
but  still  overcrowded  the  fishing  grounds.  The  242  boats  fishing  in  1946 
were  covering  a  wider  area  than  would  be  necessary  for  a  smaller  fleet 
— and  they  too  were  overcrowded.  This  fleet  was  gasoline  powered  but, 
with  possibly  one  or  two  exceptions,  nets  were  pulled  by  hand.  Our 
hypothetical  fleet  would  have  power-driven  net  rollers  and  one  man 
could  handle  a  boat  except  during  the  height  of  the  fall  season.  How 
many  such  boats,  placed  in  the  most  strategic  areas,  would  be  required 
to  take  about  8,000,000  pounds  per  year? 

In  1946,  the  gill-net  catch  was  6,463,000  pounds — the  highest  year 
in  which  we  have  records  of  catches  of  individual  boats.  The  September 
catch  in  1946  was  3,674,000  pounds,  although  the  season  ended  Sep- 
tember 26.  Had  fishing  continued  through  September  30,  the  catch 
would  almost  certainly  have  exceeded  4,250,000  pounds — more  than  we 
would  expect  from  our  hypothetical  fleet  in  an  average  September. 

The  1946  fleet  had  219  boats  fishing  in  September.  There  were  too 
many  of  them;  they  got  in  each  other's  way.  Boats  and  nets  drift  with 
the  tide,  and  on  the  better  drifts  boats  lined  up  and  had  to  await  a 
turn.  Each  boat  caught  some  fish,  alarmed  others,  and  made  fishing 
worse  for  the  boat  behind  it.  Half  as  many  boats  fishing  the  same 
drifts  would  have  had  a  much  better  average-catch-per-boat.  A  quarter 
as  many  boats  fishing  only  the  best  drifts  would  have  had  still  better 
catches. 

The  59  poorest  boats  took  only  283,000  pounds  (Table  2).  The  re- 
maining 160  boats  took  over  3,390,000  pounds  and  had  they  fished  at 
the  same  rate  through  September  30  would  have  taken  over  3,900,000 
pounds. 

Without  a  troll  fishery,  salmon  in  an  average  year  would  be  more 
abundant  than  in  1946 — catch-per-boat  would  be  greater  and  a  smaller 
fleet  would  suffice.  "We  do  not  want  our  small  fleet  to  take  as  high  a 
proportion  of  the  fish  as  the  old  fleet  did — we  want  enough  fish  to  get 
past  the  nets  to  eliminate  all  need  for  lengthy  closed  seasons. 

TABLE  2 

Sacramento-San  Joaquin  River  Fishery,  September  1946 

Salmon  Boat  Catches 

Catches  in  Number 

thousands  of 

of  pounds  boats 

Under  5,000 30 

5,000-  9,999    29 

10,000-14,999    30 

15,000-19,999    46 

20,000-24.999    39 

25,000-29,999    29 

30,000-34,999    12 

35,000-39,999    2 

40,000-44,999    1 

45,000-49,999    1 

219 

4  From  Fry  (1949),  and  unpublished  records  of  the  Department  of  Fish  and  Game. 


262  CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 

The  1946  fleet  pulled  its  nets  by  hand.  Power  rollers  will  bring  a  net 
in  faster  and  with  less  effort  and  more  time  can  be  spent  actually  catch- 
ing fish. 

The  1946  fleet  used  linen  nets — linen  is  relatively  inefficient,  especi- 
ally in  the  daytime.  When  nylon  nets  were  tried  in  the  Delta  they  took 
many  more  fish  than  linen.5  Monofilament  nets  were  developed  after  all 
net  fishing  had  been  outlawed  in  the  Delta.  They  have  been  used  in 
other  areas  and  took  from  two  to  more  than  three  times  as  many  fish 
as  nylon  nets  with  which  they  were  competing.6  Monofilament  nets  have 
been  outlawed  in  Washington  and  British  Columbia — they  are  too  ef- 
fective. 

The  3,900,000  pounds  that  the  160  "high"  boats  in  1946  would  have 
taken  had  they  been  allowed  to  fish  through  September  30  were  about 
what  our  hypothetical  fleet  would  be  expected  to  take  in  September. 
Without  their  59  inefficient  competitors,  a  somewhat  smaller  fleet  could 
have  done  the  job.  Probably  fewer  than  40  boats  would  be  required  to 
take  3,900,000  pounds  if  they  were  using  power  pullers  and  fishing  in 
the  best  places  with  nets  capable  of  catching  several  times  as  many  fish, 
and  with  salmon  at  a  higher  level  of  abundance.  To  allow  for  higher 
catches  in  above-average  years,  I  am  proposing  a  hypothetical  fleet  of 
50  boats.  These  50  boats  would  probably  be  able  to  take  so  much  fish 
that  weekend  closures  would  be  needed  in  most  years  to  permit  adequate 
escapement.  The  lengths  of  these  closures  could  be  varied  to  suit  the 
sizes  of  the  runs. 

Thus  far  I  have  stressed  the  fishery  as  it  could  be  expected  to  exist 
in  September,  since  that  is  the  peak  month  and  the  one  in  which,  his- 
torically, the  largest  catches  were  always  made.  In  recent  decades, 
October  was  always  closed.  Our  hypothetical  fishery  could  expect  to 
make  excellent  catches  in  October.  Based  upon  experimental  fishing  by 
department  employees  near  the  mouth  of  the  Feather  River,  October 
catches  would  average  about  62  percent  as  much  as  those  made  in  Sep- 
tember. 

The  limiting  factor  during  September  and  October  would  not  only 
be  the  catching  capacity  of  the  nets — it  would  include  the  fishermen's 
endurance.  During  the  rest  of  the  year  neither  of  these  problems  would 
be  serious  and  fewer  boats  could  do  the  job.  Ten  boats  would  probably 
be  sufficient  to  harvest  the  catch  during  6  of  the  12  months  (Table  3). 
It  might  be  necessary  legally  to  limit  the  number  of  boats  by  law  which 
could  fish  during  months  other  than  September  and  October,  but  eco- 
nomics probably  would  do  a  fairly  good  job  of  regulation.  In  the  past 
only  a  small  part  of  the  fleet  was  fishing  during  poorer  months. 

8  The  most  comprehensive  comparison  of  nylon  and  linen  gill-net  catches  I  found  was 
that  by  Davis  and  Posey  (1959).  They  compare  catches  made  with  several  mesh 
sizes  and  three  twine  sizes  of  cotton,  two  of  linen,  and  five  of  nylon  that  could 
be  directly  compared  with  the  cotton  and  linen.  Gill  nets  and  trammel  nets  were 
among  the  gear  tested.  (A  trammel  net  is  a  highly  modified  form  of  gill  net — 
both  gill  and  trammel  nets  were  used  in  the  Delta  salmon  fishery.)  The  number 
of  net  days  of  fishing  ran  into  the  thousands.  Comparing  the  most  effective  twine 
size  of  nylon  with  the  most  effective  linen  twine  size  for  each  mesh  size,  the 
weight  of  fish  taken  by  nylon  trammel  nets  averaged  about  2.5  times  that  taken 
by  linen  trammel  nets,  and  nylon  gill-net  catches  averaged  about  3.5  times  those 
of  linen  gill  nets.  (Cotton  ran  third.)  Monofilament  was  not  Included  in  their 
tests. 

a  Pacific  Fisherman  (1961)  states  that  in  the  Japanese  high  seas  salmon  fishery  of 
1961,  the  catch  rate  of  monofilament  nets  is  reported  to  have  averaged  2.5  times 
as  much  as  for  the  conventional  multifilament  nylon  nets. 


POTENTIAL  SALMON  PROFITS 


263 


TABLE  3 
Fleet  Needed  to  Harvest  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Salmon 


Thousands  of 

pounds  to  be 

landed1 


Boats 
fishing 


Fishermen 
fishing 


January... 
February. . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 
December. 


31,000 

96,000 

84,000 

141,000 

250,000 

93,000 

269,000 

445,000 

3,935,000 

2,435,000 

69,000 

47,000 


7,895,000 


10 
10 
10 
15 
20 
10 
15 
20 
50 
50 
10 
10 


230 


10 
10 
10 
15 
20 
10 
15 
20 
100 
100 
10 
10 


330 


1  These  are  the  theoretical  catches  that  would  be  made  If  the  timing  and  relative  size 
of  the  runs  averaged  the  same  as  they  did  from  1947-56.  Department  of  Fish  and 
Game  men  believe  that,  at  present,  the  winter  run  would  be  larger  and  the  spring 
run  smaller  than  shown  above. 


COST  OF  FLEET  OPERATION 

Because  we  might  want  as  many  as  50  boats  fishing  at  the  peak  of 
the  best  years,  costs  will  be  calculated  on  the  assumption  there  are  50 
boats  in  the  fleet  and  that  all  are  allowed  to  fish  during  September  and 
October  of  every  year.  During  a  poor  year,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
close  the  season  enough  days  per  week  to  let  enough  salmon  escape  to 
maintain  the  run.  We  will  assume  that  in  an  average  year,  25  fishing 
days  per  month  would  be  permissible  including  any  lost  because  of 
bad  weather.  (Bad  weather  rarely  is  a  problem  in  the  Delta.)  During 
September  and  October,  each  boat  would  be  operated  by  two  men.  Dur- 
ing the  rest  of  the  year,  only  one  man  per  boat  would  be  required. 
Fewer  boats  would  be  licensed  to  fish  from  November  through  August 
in  the  event  smaller  catches  did  not  automatically  reduce  the  active 
fleet. 

In  any  fishery  which  is  at  its  peak  for  only  two  months  each  year, 
most  of  the  fishermen  would  have  other  jobs  during  much  of  the  year. 
Historically,  many  gill-net  fishermen  migrated  to  Alaska  to  work  in 
other  gill-net  fisheries.  Some  entered  other  seasonal  fisheries  and  still 
others  had  nonfishing  jobs. 

An  adequate  gill-net  boat  with  engine  can  be  built  for  as  little  as 
$6,000.  Because  our  fleet  would  have  to  be  in  top  condition,  I  am  allow- 
ing $7,500  per  boat— $6,000  for  the  hull  and  $1,500  for  the  motor.  The 
hull  would  have  a  useful  life  of  about  20  years  and  could  be  sold  for 
about  $1,000  at  the  end  of  that  time,  making  a  net  cost-per-year  of 
$250.  The  motor  would  have  a  useful  life  of  only  10  years,  and  would 
be  worth  about  $300  on  a  trade-in,  making  its  net  cost-per-year  about 
$120. 

Proper  maintenance  of  boat  and  motor  would  require  a  cash  outlay 
of  about  $300  per  year.  This  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  much  of 
the  maintenance  (especially  hull  maintenance)  would  be  done  by  the 


264  CALIFORNIA  FISH   AND  GAME 

fishermen  themselves.  (It  nearly  always  is.)  Using  $20  per  working  day 
as  a  fisherman's  wages  and  allowing  20  daj-s  per  year  of  maintenance 
work,  would  add  $400  per  year  to  maintenance. 

A  nylon  net  which  normally  would  have  a  life  of  about  two  years 
can  be  purchased  for  about  $1,500.  To  allow  for  accidents  and  for 
heavier  usage  than  normal,  I  based  costs  on  a  useful  life  of  1^  years 
at  $1,000  per  year.  Allowing  20  days  per  year  of  a  fisherman's  time  for 
net  work  adds  $400. 

All  these  costs  total  $2,470  per  year  per  boat  exclusive  of  fuel  and 
oil.  Gasoline  and  oil  would  probably  cost  about  $6  per  day  r>r  $150  per 
25-day  boat  month.  Fuel  and  oil  costs  will,  of  course,  be  applicable  only 
when  boats  are  operating. 

Fishermen  would  be  making  wages  if  working  at  nonfishing  jobs 
so,  for  determining  costs  and  profits,  fishermen's  wages  while  fishing 
were  calculated  at  $20  per  day  with  no  allowance  for  overtime  and 
were  then  included  in  the  expense  of  operation.  Profits,  as  used  here, 
would  be  the  amount  over  and  above  all  expenses,  including  wages. 
According  to  the  costs  just  given  and  the  fishing  schedule  in  Table  3, 
the  calculated  cost  of  operating  the  entire  fleet  for  a  year  would  be 
$323,000  (Table  4). 

Salmon  are  high-priced  fish.  The  public  has  always  been  willing  to 
buy  the  entire  California  catch  and  usually  additional  tonnages  that 
are  imported  into  the  State  as  well.  Since  our  hypothetical  fishery 
will  be  operating  in  the  future  and  because  its  costs  are  all  based  on 
current  prices,  I  have  used  the  latest  price  figures  available  in  detail, 
i.e.,  those  of  1959.  The  1960  prices  were  higher,  but  I  lack  full  details. 

TABLE  4 

Cost  of  Operating  a  50-Boat  Fleet 

Item  Cost 

Boat,  other  than  fuel 
Hull  $6,000  ;  useful  life  20  years  ;  sale  value  $1,000  ; 

cost   per   year $250.00 

Motor  $1,500  ;  useful  life  10  years  ;  turn-in  $300  ; 

cost   per   year 120.00 

Boat  and  motor  maintenance,  cash  outlay  per  year 300.00 

Fisherman's  time  on  maintenance,  20  days  per  year 

at  $20  per  day 400.00 

Net 

Purchase  price  $1,500;  useful  life  1J  years; 

cost   per   year 1,000.00 

Fisherman's  time  spent  maintaining  net,  20  days 

at  $20  per  day 400.00 

Total   per  boat  other  than  fuel  or  wages 

of  fisherman  while  fishing,  per  year $2,470.00 

Total  cost  of  fleet  of  50  boats,  per  year $123,500.00 

Fuel,  230  boat-months  at  $150.00  per  boat-month — 

total   per   year 34,500.00 

Wages  of  Fishermen   (exclusive  of  maintenance) 

330  man-months  at  $500  per  25-day  month 165,000.00 

TOTAL  COST  OF  OPERATING   FLEET  OF  50   BOATS, 

PER    YEAR    $323,000.00 


POTENTIAL  SALMON  PROFITS  265 

TABLE  5 
Income  and  Profit  from  the  Hypothetical  Fishery 

Average  gross  income  : 

7,895,000  lbs.  of  salmon  at  $0,421  per  lb $3,324,000 

Less:  Total  cost  of  operating  fleet 323,000 

(see  Table  4)  " 

POTENTIAL  NET  PROFIT $3,001,000 


Potential  net  profit  per  pound  of  salmon  landed $0.38 

Potential  net  profit  per  fisb  landed , $8.45 


The  1959  salmon  catch  was  landed  entirely  by  trollers  who,  in  1959, 
received  an  average  of  $0,468  per  pound  for  their  fish.  Traditionally, 
gill-net  caught  fish  sold  for  a  trifle  less  than  troll-caught  fish,  because 
as  soon  as  salmon  leave  the  ocean  some  begin  to  lose  their  silvery  color 
and  take  on  spawning  colors.  To  determine  the  ratio  between  troll-  and 
gill-net  fish  prices,  the  average  received  for  each  was  compared  during 
the  last  five  years  of  the  gill-net  fishery.  Gill-net  fish  sold  for  as  little 
as  75.5  percent  of  the  troll  fish  price-per-pound  in  1955  and  as  much  as 
99  percent  in  1954.  The  five-year  average  was  90  percent.  At  this  rate, 
the  1959  catch  would  have  been  worth  0.9  times  $0,468,  or  $0,421  per 
pound.  A  7,895,000-pound  catch  would  have  sold  for  about  $3,324,000. 
The  fishermen  would  have  received  roughly  $3,000,000  over  and  above 
their  boat  operation  costs  and  their  wages  of  $20  per  day  (Table  5). 
This  is  the  equivalent  of  a  profit  of  38  cents  for  each  pound  of  salmon 
landed,  or  about  $8.45  per  fish.7 

These  are  the  profits  a  50-boat  fleet  could  have  made  if  the  operators 
had  owned  and  harvested  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  salmon  runs 
much  as  a  farmer  owns  and  harvests  crops  grown  on  his  land.  With 
appropriate  adjustments  as  prices  change,  these  figures  can  be  used 
to  calculate  net  benefits  to  commercial  salmon  fisheries  if  a  water  or 
power  project  is  able  to  enhance  existing  salmon  runs  or  establish 
new  ones. 

This  method  takes  no  account  of  sportfishery  values.  In  making  the 
calculations  it  was  assumed  there  would  be  a  sportfishery  in  addition 
to  the  hypothetical  commercial  fishery  just  as  there  is  a  sportfishery  in 
addition  to  the  existing  commercial  fishery.  Sport  values  would,  there- 
fore, be  in  addition  to  commercial  values. 

SUMMARY 

"When  water  or  power  projects  might  damage  a  fishery,  it  is  not  nec- 
essary under  California  and  federal  law  to  determine  the  dollar  value 
of  the  threatened  fishery,  to  obtain  fishways  or  hatcheries,  or  in  other 
ways  maintain  the  fishery  at  its  natural  preproject  level. 

To  obtain  funds  to  enhance  a  fishery,  it  is  necessary  to  show  the  value 
of  extra  fish  produced  will  exceed  the  cost  of  producing  them. 

The  methods  presently  used  to  evaluate  commercial  fisheries  are 
varied,  and  none  is  directly  comparable  with  methods  used  to  calculate 
the  value  of  other  beneficial  uses  of  water. 


7  According  to  Cope  and  Slater  (1957)  the  average  weight  of  a  gill-net  caught  salmon 
was  22.23  pounds  during  1947-1949. 


266  CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 

The  net-economic-yield  concept  is  not  applicable  to  a  fishery  in  which 
everyone  can  participate  and  in  which  efficient  methods  are  outlawed 
to  prevent  overfishing.  The  concept  could  be  applied,  however,  in  a 
fishery  managed  for  maximum  efficiency.  The  profits  that  would  accrue 
from  such  a  fishery  are  calculated. 

The  troll  fishery,  now  the  only  legal  way  to  take  commercial  salmon 
in  California,  is  very  inefficient.  Several  other  fishing  methods  are 
briefly  considered  and  costs  are  calculated  for  operating  a  hypothetical 
gill-net  fleet  in  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Delta.  (It  is  not  proposed 
that  gill  netting  be  legalized — the  study  is  strictly  for  calculating 
profits.) 

In  such  a  hypothetical  fishery  all  trolling  would  be  stopped,  all 
fishing  for  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  salmon  would  be  in  the  Delta. 
Similar  fisheries  could  be  established  in  other  rivers. 

The  historical  gill-net  fishery  was  outlawed  in  1957  after  its  efficiency 
had  been  reduced  by  overcrowding,  closed  seasons,  and  closed  areas.  It 
could  take  only  those  fish  which  escaped  the  trollers. 

The  harvest  in  the  Delta  could  be  at  least  as  large  as  the  total  ocean 
salmon  catch  off  California  because  landings  of  Sacramento-San  Joa- 
quin salmon  presently  made  off  Oregon,  Washington,  and  Canada 
exceed  catches  made  off  California  of  salmon  from  all  other  rivers. 
California's  7,895,000-pound  average  annual  catch  (1952-1961)  was 
used  as  the  normal  catch  of  the  hypothetical  gill-net  fleet. 

The  probable  monthly  distribution  of  the  catch  was  determined  from 
gill-net  catch  records  and  from  some  experimental  fishing  during  the 
closed  season. 

The  largest  gill-net  catch  for  which  we  have  detailed  records  was 
made  in  1946  when  6,463,000  pounds  of  salmon  were  taken.  The  season 
closed  September  26  when  fishing  was  at  its  peak.  In  September,  219 
boats  were  fishing,  including  a  number  of  unsuccessful  ones.  The  fishing 
grounds  were  seriously  overcrowded  and  the  fishermen  were  using 
linen  gill  nets  which  were  pulled  by  hand.  By  doing  away  with  lengthy 
closed  seasons  and  by  using  nylon  or  monofilament  nets  (which  have 
been  proven  much  more  effective)  and  mechanical  net  pullers,  a  fleet  of 
50  boats  manned  by  good  fishermen  could  land  the  same  poundage. 
The  50  boats  would  be  needed  only  during  the  peak  months  of  Sep- 
tember and  October. 

The  cost  of  purchasing,  maintaining  and  operating  such  a  fleet  would 
be  about  $323,000  per  year,  including  $20  per  day  for  time  spent  by 
each  fisherman  either  while  fishing  or  doing  maintenance  work. 

The  gross  income  at  1959  prices,  about  $3,324,000  per  year,  would 
yield  a  net  profit  of  over  $3,000,000  which  is  the  equivalent  of  38  cents 
per  pound  or  $8.45  per  fish  landed. 

Thus,  38  cents  per  pound  or  $8.45  per  fish  would  be  a  justifiable 
amount  to  allow  when  calculating  net  benefits  to  the  commercial  salmon 
fishery  that  would  result  from  enhancing  existing  runs  or  establishing 
new  ones. 

Values  of  the  sport  catch  are  not  included  in  these  determinations. 


POTENTIAL  SALMON  PROFITS  26? 

REFERENCES 
Cope,  Oliver  B.,  and  Daniel  W.  Slater 

1957.     Role  of  Coleman  Hatchery  in  maintaining  a  king  salmon  run.  U.S.  Fish 
and  Wildl.  Serv.  Res.  Rept.  47 ;  22  pp. 
Davis,  James,  and  Lloyd  Posey,  Jr. 

1959.     Relative  selectivity  of  freshwater  commercial  fishing  devices  used  in  Lou- 
isiana. Louisiana  Wild  Life  and  Fish.  Comm.,  New  Orleans,  27  pp.,  9  figs., 
3  tbs.,  Suppl.,  144  pp.,  187  tbs. 
Fry,  Donald  H.,  Jr. 

1949.     Salmon.  In  The  commercial  fish  catch  of  California  for  the  year  1947  with 
an  historical  review  1916-1947.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  Fish  Bull.  74,  pp. 
37-49. 
Hallock,  Richard  J.,  D.  H.  Fry,  Jr.,  and  Don  A.  LaFaunce 

1957.     The  use  of  wire  fyke  traps  to  estimate  the  runs  of  adult  salmon  and  steel- 
head  in  the  Sacramento  River.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  vol.  43,  no.  4,  pp. 
271-298. 
Pacific  Fisherman 

1961.     What  the  Japanese  report  about  monofilament  salmon  gillnets.  Pac.  Fish., 
vol.  59,  no.  12,  p.  29. 


THE  RESPONSE  OF  BROWSE  PLANTS  TO 
FERTILIZATION1 

R.  P.  GIBBENS  and   REX  D.   PIEPER 
School  of  Forestry,  University  of  California,  Berkeley 

INTRODUCTION 

The  wildland  areas  serving  as  game  ranges  today  are  covered  pre- 
dominately by  shrubs.  The  browse  produced  by  these  plants  is  a  staple 
item  in  the  diet  of  game,  particularly  deer.  Thus,  shrubs  constitute 
a  crop ;  just  as  corn,  grass,  or  trees  are  crops  on  other  land.  Fertiliza- 
tion, a  technique  which  has  proved  its  worth  in  managing  other  crops, 
may  be  useful  in  managing  game  ranges  as  well.  Although  there  is  a 
wealth  of  knowledge  about  the  response  of  "cash"  crops  to  fertilization, 
little  information  is  available  on  the  response  of  shrubs.  This  study 
was  undertaken  to  gain  some  knowledge  of  the  growth  and  utilization 
of  browse  plants  on  a  deer  winter  range  following  fertilization. 

The  soils  of  wildland  areas  in  California  are  often  deficient  in 
nutrients.  A  survey  of  about  100  upland  soils,  many  associated  with  a 
brush  cover,  showed  about  two-thirds  were  low  in  available  nitrogen 
and  phosphorus,  indicated  by  lettuce  grown  in  pot  tests  (Jenny,  1950). 
Similar  tests  of  brushland  soils  from  southern  California  showed  nearly 
all  were  deficient  in  nitrogen  and  phosphorus,  especially  in  the  lower 
horizons  (Vlamis,  et  al,  1954).  Native  brush  plants,  as  well  as  lettuce, 
have  been  used  as  indicators  in  pot  tests  of  some  common  brushland 
soils  from  the  coast  ranges  and  the  central  Sierra  Nevada.  Available 
nutrients  were  often  low  and  the  brush  seedlings  used  as  indicators 
were  much  larger  and  more  vigorous  when  deficiencies  were  corrected 
(Schultz,  et  al,  1958;  Vlamis,  et  al,  1959).  In  the  semiarid  San  Gabriel 
mountains  of  southern  California,  soil  nutrition,  as  well  as  water,  was 
a  controlling  factor  in  the  growth  of  shrubs  and  trees,  both  for  seed- 
lings in  pots  and  for  mature  plants  in  the  field  (Hellmers,  et  al,  1955). 
Thus  it  seems  that  fertilization  might  prove  valuable  for  increasing 
the  quantity,  and  possibly  the  quality,  of  browse  on  game  ranges. 

The  effect  of  fertilizers  was  investigated  in  conjunction  with  other 
brush  manipulation  studies  on  the  San  Joaquin  deer  winter  range.  The 
winter  range  lies  on  the  west  side  of  the  San  Joaquin  river  in  Madera 
County.  The  topography  is  rough,  ranging  from  precipitous  slopes  to 
relatively  level  benches.  Soils  vary  from  deep  to  shallow  and  rocky, 
with  frequent  granite  outerops.  The  vegetation  is  predominately  mixed 
chaparral,  but  ponderosa  pine  and  oak  woodland,  with  grass  or  brush 
understory,  are  also  present.  The  study  area  is  at  an  elevation  of  about 

1  Submitted  for  publication  June  1961.  This  study  Is  part  of  a  project  conducted  by 
the  University  of  California  under  contract  with  the  California  Department  of 
Fish  and  Game  under  Federal  Aid  in  WMldlife  Restoration  Act  Project  51-R, 
"Big'  Game  Investigations."  Part  of  the  fertilizers  used  were  supplied  by  the 
California  Spray-Chemical  Corporation. 

(268) 


BROWSE   FERTILIZATION  269 

3,800  feet.  The  average  annual  precipitation  is  34  inches,  but  during 
1959  and  1960,  when  the  studies  were  conducted,  rainfall  was  only 
24  and  28  inches,  respectively. 

The  winter  range  is  occupied  by  a  large  population  of  migratory 
deer  from  November  to  the  middle  of  May  each  year.  Browse  plants 
are  utilized  very  heavily  during  this  period.  Pellet  counts  made  on 
brushy  areas  manipulated  by  mashing  and  burning  showed  as  many  as 
200  deer  days  of  use  per  acre.  Livestock  also  use  portions  of  the  winter 
range  at  various  seasons. 

RESPONSE  OF  BRUSH  SEEDLINGS 

To  determine  the  effect  of  fertilization  on  brush  seedlings,  two  areas 
were  selected  on  which  the  original  cover  had  been  manipulated  by 
mashing  and  burning.  One,  the  Lion  Point  area,  was  mashed  and 
burned  in  the  fall  of  1955.  When  the  fertilization  studies  were  started 
in  the  fall  of  1958,  this  area  had  a  dense  stand  of  three-year-old  wedge- 
leaf  ceanothus  seedlings  (Ceanothus  cuneatus),  an  abundant  and  im- 
portant source  of  browse. 

Eight  plots,  each  60  x  33.5  feet,  were  laid  out  in  two  contiguous  rows 
on  a  gentle  slope.  In  each  plot,  100  seedlings  were  marked  by  tagging 
every  one  encountered  in  transects  1  foot  wide  until  all  the  tags  were 
used.  Heights  of  the  plants  were  recorded  when  they  were  tagged ;  the 
plants  were  remeasured  each  spring  and  fall  until  the  study  was  termi- 
nated. 

Another  series  of  eight  plots,  each  50  x  37.5  feet,  was  laid  out  on 
Kinsman  Flat  which  had  been  mashed  and  burned  in  the  spring  of 
1957.  Wedgeleaf  ceanothus  seedlings  were  not  so  abundant  here  as  at 
Lion  Point  and  only  50  seedlings  were  tagged  and  measured  in  each 
plot.  These  seedlings  were  one  and  two  years  old  in  the  fall  of  1958, 
with  one-year-olds  predominating.  At  the  start  of  the  study,  there  were 
2.26  seedlings  per  sq.  ft.  on  the  Lion  Point  plots  and  0.14  per  sq.  ft. 
on  the  Kinsman  Flat  plots. 

On  both  the  Lion  Point  and  Kinsman  Flat  plots,  herbaceous  cover 
consisted  primarily  of  annual  grasses  and  filaree.  There  were  scattered 
perennial  grasses  on  the  Lion  Point  plots.  Shrubs,  other  than  wedgeleaf 
ceanothus,  were  thinly  scattered  on  the  plots. 

Ammonium  phosphate  (20-20-0)  was  applied  to  alternate  plots  in 
both  groups  at  the  rate  of  150  pounds  of  N  and  150  pounds  of  P2O5 
per  acre  in  October  1958  and  March  1959.  During  the  second  year, 
fertilizer  applications  were  repeated,  so  the  final  treatment  was  600 
pounds  of  N  and  600  pounds  of  P205  per  acre. 

All  of  the  plots  were  browsed  by  deer  from  November  1st  to  the 
middle  of  May.  Two  fertilized  and  two  nonf ertilized  plots  in  each  group 
were  fenced  to  exclude  cattle.  Cattle  grazed  the  Lion  Point  area  during 
March,  April,  and  May  and  the  Kinsman  Flat  area  during  August  and 
September. 

Mortality 

The  mortality  of  seedlings  was  greater  on  fertilized  plots  than  on 
the  control  plots;  this  was  true  of  both  age  groups  (Figure  1).  Losses 
were  much  greater  on  the  Kinsman  Flat  plots  where  the  seedlings  were 
younger.  Fertilization  resulted  in  almost  complete  annihilation  of  small 


270 


CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 
LION     POINT 


400 


300 


200 


in 
o 
z    100 

_j 

Q 
UJ 

UJ 

IS) 


KINSMAN    FLAT 


200 


CD 

2 

=>    150 


100 


50 


FALL 
1958 

FIGURE    1.      Number  of  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  seedlings  surviving  on  fertilized  plots  (black  bars) 

and   control   plots  (white   bars).  Seedlings  on   Lion    Point   plots  three   years   old   when   fertilizers 

applied,  those  on  Kinsman  Flat  plots  one  and  two  years  old. 

seedlings.  Most  of  the  seedlings  which  died  on  control  plots  were  also 
small.  Virtually  none  of  the  largest  seedlings  died  on  either  treatment. 
The  stimulation  of  the  growth  of  herbaceous  vegetation  was  probably 
a  prime  factor  in  increasing  mortality  of  the  brush  seedlings  on  ferti- 
lized plots.  The  yield  of  herbaceous  vegetation  was  determined  in  1959 
on  both  Lion  Point  and  Kinsman  Flat  plots.  Production  did  not  exceed 
600  pounds  per  acre,  due  to  the  very  dry  growing  conditions  which 
prevailed  during  the  spring.  However,  yields  were  significantly  higher 
on  fertilized  plots  on  both  areas.  Production  of  herbaceous  vegetation 
was  not  measured  in  1960,  but  better  moisture  conditions  resulted  in 
an  obvious  increase  in  yield  on  fertilized  plots  as  compared  to  control 
plots  (Figure  2). 

Growth 

By  using  only  the  tagged  seedlings  which  were  alive  at  the  end  of 
the  experiment,  it  was  possible  to  determine  if  fertilization  caused 
an  increase  in  height.  The  heights  recorded  for  surviving  seedlings  at 
the  start  of  the  study  did  not  differ  significantly  between  fertilized 
and  control  plots.  In  the  fall  of  1960,  when  the  final  measurements 


BROWSE   FERTILIZATION 


271 


FIGURE  2.  Stand  of  five-year-old  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  seedlings  on  the  Lion  Point  plots  in 
the  fall  of  1960.  Plots  in  upper  left  and  lower  right  were  fertilized  in  each  of  the  two  pre- 
ceding  years.   This   orea    has    not    been    grazed    by    cattle    and    grasses   on   the    fertilized    plots 

obscure  most  of  the  seedlings. 

were  made,  there  was  no  significant  difference  in  seedling  heights  on 
the  two  treatments.  The  fall  measurements  included  a  season  increment 
not  yet  browsed,  but  evidently  the  heavy  use  during  previous  winters 
suppressed  any  measurable  response  to  fertilization.  A  few  seedlings 
protected  from  browsing  by  exclosures  made  more  growth  when  ferti- 
lized than  those  not  fertilized  but  similarly  protected. 

Utilization 

Each  fall  200  twigs  were  tagged  and  measured  on  fertilized  and 
nonfertilized  seedlings.  In  the  winter  of  1958-59,  deer  removed  27  and 
28  percent  of  the  twig  length  on  fertilized  and  control  seedlings,  respec- 
tively. The  average  reduction  in  twig  length  was  33  percent  on  fertilized 
plants  and  36  percent  on  control  plants  in  1959-60.  The  difference  in 
amount  removed  was  not  significant  in  either  winter.  The  reduction 
in  seedling  heights  during  the  winter,  another  measure  of  utilization, 
was  not  significantly  different  on  fertilized  and  control  plants.  Reduc- 
tion in  height  is  a  rather  poor  measure  of  utilization  because  the  tallest 
living  portion  is  often  a  group  of  leaves  on  an  old  twig,  instead  of  a 
new  leader  which  may  be  bitten  off. 

Deer  exhibited  a  preference  for  the  herbaceous  growth  on  fertilized 
plots.  This  was  especially  evident  on  the  Kinsman  Flat  plots  in  April 
1960.  At  this  time,  grazing  by  deer  had  kept  large  portions  of  the 
fertilized  plots  mowed  off,  while  the  control  plots  showed  little  use. 


272 


CALIFORNIA   FISH   AND  GAME 


Livestock  also  preferred  the  forage  on  fertilized  plots,  but  they  used 
ncmfertilized  plots  heavily  too,  as  forage  was  scarce  during  both  years. 
No  differences  were  found  in  the  growth  or  mortality  of  seedlings 
between  plots  protected  from  livestock  and  those  which  were  grazed, 
but  there  was  a  greater  accumulation  of  mulch  and  litter,  since  the 
herbaceous  vegetation  was  not  grazed  by  cattle. 

RESPONSE  OF  MATURE  WEDGELEAF  CEANOTHUS  PLANTS 

A  series  of  plots  was  established  on  a  portion  of  the  winter  range 
burned  by  wildfire  in  1939.  The  area  studied  has  a  stand  of  heavily- 
hedged  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  plants  2  to  4  feet  high  (Figure  3).  In 
November  1958,  ammonium  phosphate  (10-20-0)  was  applied  to  about 
4  acres  with  a  mechanized  spreader  at  about  100  pounds  of  N  and 
200  pounds  of  P2O5  per  acre.  On  small  plots,  50  x  75  feet,  fertilizers 
were  applied  in  the  following  amounts  and  kinds :  ammonium  nitrate,  at 
80  pounds  of  N  per  acre;  ammonium  sulfate,  80  pounds  N  and  90 
pounds  S ;  treble  superphosphate,  140  pounds  of  P2O5.  These  applica- 
tions were  made  in  combination  so  that  the  following  treatments  were 
obtained;  control;  nitrogen  (N)  ;  nitrogen-phosphorus  (NP)  ;  nitrogen- 
sulfur  (NS)  ;  and  nitrogen-sulfur-phosphorus  (NSP). 

After  ammonium  phosphate  was  applied  to  the  4-acre  plot,  four 
plants  in  each  of  the  following  vigor  categories  were  selected:  75  per- 
cent decadent;  50  percent  decadent;  and  healthy  or  nondecadent.  Two 
plants  in  each  category  were  on  the  fertilized  area  and  two  on  an 
adjacent  nonfertilized  area.  These  plants  were  protected  by  individual 


FIGURE   3.      A    portion    of   the    stand    of    heavily-hedged    wedgeleaf    ceanothus    plants    used    in 
the   fertilizer    trials.    Picture    taken    in    the    fall    of    1958    when    the    plants    were    19    years    old. 


BROWSE  FERTILIZATION 


273 


exclosures  from  the  fall  of  1958  to  the  fall  of  1959.  On  each  plant, 
20  twigs  were  tagged  and  measured  at  intervals  during  the  spring  and 
summer  to  determine  the  amount  and  rate  of  growth.  A  shortage  of 
fencing  material  limited  the  protection  on  the  small  plots  to  a  single 
plant  on  the  NSP  treatment. 

Due  to  similarity  of  response  and  subjective  nature  of  selection,  the 
75  and  50  percent  decadent  plants  were  combined  when  analyzing  the 
data.  One  decadent  plant  on  the  control  area  and  scattered  twigs  on 
other  plants  died.  Only  twigs  still  living  in  the  fall  of  1959  were  used 
in  computing  growth.  As  the  tagged  leaders  were  selected  at  random, 
twigs  of  different  lengths  were  marked.  The  twigs  with  the  longest 
original  length  made  the  most  growth,  probably  because  of  a  more 
favorable  location  on  the  plant.  The  differences  among  twig  lengths 
on  the  various  treated  plots  were  significant.  Consequently,  the  seasonal 
increment  of  each  leader  was  adjusted  by  using  the  regression  co- 
efficient of  seasonal  increment  on  original  twig  length.  Adjusted  sea- 
sonal increment  for  the  treatments  could  be  compared  by  a  "t"  test, 
since  the  influence  of  original  twig  length  on  growth  had  been  equal- 
ized. Seasonal  increment  included  the  length  of  lateral  branches  which 
developed  on  the  twigs  and  the  increase  in  length  of  the  central, 
dominant  branch. 

Fertilization  failed  to  stimulate  leader  growth  on  the  healthy  plants 
sampled  (Table  1).  The  nonfertilized,  healthy  plants  produced  sig- 
nificantly more  growth  than  the  fertilized  ones.  However,  the  decadent 
plants  which  were  fertilized  produced  significantly  more  growth  than 
those  which  were  not  fertilized.  Twig  growth  on  all  of  the  plants  was 
largely  confined  to  the  period  from  April  15  to  June  19.  Only  fertilized 
decadent  plants  grew  appreciably  in  the  latter  part  of  the  season.  Since 
the  spring  of  1959  was  extremely  dry,  moisture  was  probably  more 
limiting  to  plant  growth  than  nutrient  supply.  There  were  no  visible 
differences  in  herbaceous  growth  on  the  plots  during  the  season.  A 
3-inch  rain  which  fell  on  September  18  did  not  initiate  measurable 
twig  growth. 

In  the  fall  of  1959,  additional  ammonium  phosphate  (20-20-0)  was 
applied  on  a  portion  of  the  4-acre  plot  fertilized  the  previous  year. 
Hand  broadcasting  was  used  to  spread  the  fertilizer  at  a  rate  of  200 
pounds  of  N  and  200  pounds  of  P205  per  acre  on  a  plot  100x300  feet. 

TABLE  1 
Seasonal  Increment  of  Wedgeleaf  Ceanothus  Twigs  During  the  1959  Growing  Season 


Treatment 

Number 
of  plants 

Number 
of  twigs 

Average  twig 

increment 

(inches) 

Adjusted  twig1 

increment 

(inches) 

NP     

2— healthy 
1 — healthy 
2 — healthy 
4 — decadent 
3 — decadent 

40 
20 
40 
72 
55 

3.78 
4.19 
4.52 
3.94 
1.64 

2.84b° 

NSP --- 

3 . 58  « b 

4.34" 

NP --- 

3.94»b 

2.67° 

1  There  is  a  significant  difference  (P  <  .05)  between  adjusted  means  of  treatments 
having  different  letters  for  superscripts,  and  no  significant  difference  where  the 
same  letter  occurs  in  the  superscript.  For  example,  in  Table  1  the  NP  treatment 
with  a  mean  of  2.84bc  is  significantly  different  from  the  control  (4.34*)  because 
the  superscripts  have  no  letter  in  common.  The  NP  treatment  is  not  different 
from  any  other  treatment  because  either  b  or  c  appears  in  all  other  superscripts. 
The  superscript  letters  should  be  read  individually  and  not  as  terms. 


274 


CALIFORNIA  FISH   AND  GAME 


TABLE  2 
Twig  Increment  of  Fertilized  Plants  During  the  1960  Growing  Season 


Treatment1 


Number  of 
plants 


Number  of 
twigs 


Average 

twig 

increment 

(inches) 


Adjusted 

twig' 

increment 

(inches) 


NP  (1958  and  1959). 

NP  (1958)- 

Control 


Wedgeleaf  ceanothus  (large  plots) 


100 
100 
100 


NP  (1958)  _. 
NSP  (1958). 
N  (1958)... 
NS  (1958).. 

P  (1958) 

Control 


Wedgeleaf  ceanothus  (small  plots) 
20 


20 
20 
20 
20 
20 


NP  (1959).. 
NS  (1959).. 
NSP  (1959). 
P  (1959).... 
Control 


Mariposa  manzanita 


60 
60 
60 
60 
60 


9.71 
8.98 
7.71 


8.18 
8.73 
7.27 
6.74 
2.57 
5.00 


8.38 
5.83 
7.69 
8.60 
4.87 


10.20* 
8.94» 
7.20b 


8.82» 

7.30'' 

6.69b 

5.61b 

4.73b 

5.32b 


8.90» 
7.35» 
7.08' 
7.00» 
5.02b 


1  Symbol  of  element  and  year  applied. 

2  See  Table  I  footnote  for  explanation. 

On  each  of  the  following  areas  five  healthy  plants  were  protected  by 
exclosures :  fertilized  in  1958 — 100  pounds  of  N  and  200  pounds  of 
P205  per  acre ;  fertilized  in  1958  and  1959 — total  treatment  300  pounds 
of  N  and  400  pounds  of  P2O5  per  acre;  and  a  control  area.  Vigor  was 
not  considered  in  this  experiment  because  an  adequate  sample  of  de- 
cadent plants  could  not  be  found  on  each  area.  Twigs  were  tagged  and 
measured  on  each  fenced  plant  to  determine  growth  during  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1960. 

Seasonal  increments  were  adjusted  in  the  same  manner  as  before. 
Both  fertilizer  treatments  produced  significantly  more  twig  growth  of 
wedgeleaf  ceanothus  than  the  control  (Table  2).  There  was  no  signi- 
ficant difference  in  twig  growth  between  the  two  fertilizer  treatments, 
although  twigs  on  plants  receiving  the  second  application  of  fertilizer 
were  longer. 

On  the  small  plots  fertilized  in  1958,  one  representative  plant  was 
protected  by  an  exclosure  during  the  winter  of  1959-60.  No  additional 
fertilizer  was  applied  to  these  plots.  Again,  differences  in  the  original 
length  of  twigs  among  treatments  made  it  necessary  to  adjust  seasonal 
increment  before  comparisons  could  be  made.  The  NP  treatment  pro- 
duced significantly  more  twig  growth  than  the  control  (Table  2).  The 
other  fertilizer  treatments  did  not  increase  twig  growth  over  the  control 
although  the  NSP  treatment  approached  significance.  Thus,  pronounced 
carry-over  effect  was  evident  only  when  N  and  P  were  in  combination. 
This  conforms  to  the  effects  observed  in  agricultural  crops. 

Better  moisture  conditions  in  the  spring  of  1960  resulted  in  a  sea- 
sonal increment  nearly  double  that  of  1959.  From  75  to  95  percent  of 
the  season's  growth  was  completed  by  June  15.  There  were  no  apparent 
relationships  between  fertilization  and  the  length  of  growing  period. 


BROWSE  FERTILIZATION 


275 


RESPONSE  OF  MARIPOSA  MANZANITA 

In  the  fall  of  1959,  plots  were  laid  out  on  a  portion  of  the  1939  wild- 
fire burn  occupied  by  low,  hedged  mariposa  manzanita  (Arctostaphylos 
mariposa)  plants  (Figure  4).  This  species  was  selected  because  it  is 
abundant,  but  low  in  palatability.  Fertilizers  were  applied  by  hand 
broadcasting  on  plots  50x75  feet.  Single  superphosphate,  ammonium 
sulphate  and  ammonium  phosphate  were  used  to  give  the  following 
treatments :  100  pounds  of  N  and  114  pounds  of  S  per  acre;  100  pounds 
of  P2O5  per  acre;  100  pounds  of  N,  100  pounds  of  P2O5,  and  114 
pounds  of  S  per  acre ;  and  200  pounds  of  N  and  P2O5  per  acre.  Growth 
response  was  measured  by  tagging  and  measuring  20  twigs  on  each  of 
three  plants  on  each  treatment.  The  plants  were  protected  by  exclosures 
when  the  fertilizers  were  applied  and  twig  growth  for  the  1960  grow- 
ing season  determined. 

The  seasonal  increments  in  twig  length  were  adjusted  for  differences 
in  original  twig  length  in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  wedgeleaf 
ceanothus.  All  of  the  fertilized  plants  had  significantly  more  twig 
growth  than  the  control  plants  (Table  2).  There  were  no  significant 
differences  among  the  fertilizer  treatments,  although  the  NP  treatment 
produced  slightly  longer  twigs ;  note  the  heavier  rate  of  N  fertilization. 
Mariposa  manzanita  completed  a  large  part  of  the  season's  growth  by 
June  15. 


FIGURE  4.     Mariposa  manzanita   plants  on  plot  fertilized  with  NSP.  Grasses  outside  exclosure 
were   grazed    by   deer   earlier    in    the   season   and    consequently    are    much    shorter   than    those 

inside  the  exclosure. 


276 


CALIFORNIA  FISH   AND  GAME 


DEER  UTILIZATION  OF   FERTILIZED   PLANTS 

Mature  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  and  mariposa  manzanita  plant  utiliza- 
tion was  determined  by  tagging  and  measuring  large  numbers  of  cur- 
rent twigs  in  the  fall  and  remeasuring  the  same  twigs  in  the  spring 
after  the  deer  had  left.  The  reduction  in  twig  length  caused  by  browsing 
was  used  as  an  index  to  utilization.  No  leaf-use  measurements  were 
made,  but  leaf  utilization  probably  would  be  in  the  same  proportion  as 
twig  use.  Since  the  deer  were  present  until  the  middle  of  May,  utiliza- 
tion and  growing  periods  overlapped.  Tagged  leaders  of  the  previous 
season  gave  no  indication  of  use  during  this  period.  However,  when 
tagged  leaders  were  measured  in  the  spring,  a  record  was  made  of  the 
number  having  new  axillary  leaders  and  the  number  browsed.  Less 
than  5  percent  of  the  new  leaders  were  browsed,  indicating  little  nse  of 
new  twig  growth  during  the  spring. 

During  the  winter  of  1958-59,  small  aluminum  tags  were  used  to 
mark  twigs.  Deer  liked  to  chew  these  tags,  resulting  in  an  unplanned 
reduction  in  sample  size.  Consequently,  small  lengths  of  electrical 
hook-up  wire  with  insulation  of  different  colors  were  used  the  second 
winter.  This  method  was  very  successful.  The  deer  did  not  chew  the 
wire  and  a  great  deal  of  time  was  saved  when  making  measurements, 
as  it  was  not  necessary  to  look  for,  and  read,  a  number.  Ten  color  pat- 
terns were  used  as  this  was  the  number  of  twigs  marked  on  an  in- 
dividual bush.  The  number  of  bushes  used  varied  with  the  size  of  the 
plots. 

Deer  removed  more  from  longer  twigs  than  they  did  from  shorter 
ones.  Also,  the  original  length  of  twigs  differed  significantly  among 
treatments.  Thus,  to  compare  the  amount  removed  from  twigs  on 
various  treatments,  it  was  necessary  to  adjust  the  amount  removed  from 
each  twig  with  the  overall  regression  coefficient  of  amount  removed  on 
original  length.  This  adjustment  equalized  the  influence  of  original  twig 
length.  Treatment  differences  could  then  be  determined  by  the  "t" 
test.  This  procedure  had  not  been  necessary  for  the  twigs  measured  on 
the  seedlings  because  the  original  lengths  were  not  significantly  differ- 
ent between  treatments. 

In  the  fall  of  1958,  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  twigs  were  tagged  on  the 
following  treatments:  control,  NP,  P,  NS,  and  NSP.  Comparison  of  the 


TABLE  3 

Reduction  in  Twig  Length  by  Deer  on  Fertilized  Wedgeleaf  Ceanothus  Plants 

During  the  Winter  of  1958-59 


Treatment1 

Number 
of  twigs 
measured 

Percent 

of  twigs 
browsed 

Percent 

of  twig 

length 

removed 

Average 
amount 
of  twig 
removed 
(inches) 

Adjusted 
amount' 

of  twig 
removed 

(inches) 

NS  (1958) 

94 
96 

546 
99 

567 

96 
99 
98 
98 
99 

33 
32 
23 
15 
21 

1.15 
1.45 
0.79 
0.47 
0.66 

1.10« 

NSP  (1958) 

NP  (1958).      

1.02» 
0.79b 

P  (1958) 

0.55« 

0.74>> 

1  Symbol  of  element  and  year  applied. 

2  See  Table  I  footnote  for  explanation. 


BROWSE  FERTILIZATION 


277 


TABLE  4 

Reduction  in  Twig  Length  of  Fertilized  Plants  by  Deer  During 

the  Winter  of  1959-60 


Average 

Adjusted 

Percent 

amount 

amount1 

Number 

Percent 

of  twig 

of  twig 

of  twig 

of  twigs 

of  twigs 

length 

removed 

removed 

Treatment' 

measured 

browsed 

removed 

(inches) 

(inches) 

NSP  (1958) 

NS  (1958) 

P  (1958) 

NP  (1958) 

N  (1958) 

NP  (1958  and  1959) 

NP  (1958) 

Control 

NP  (1959) 

NSP  (1959) 

NS  (1959) 

P  (1959) 

Control 


Wedgeleaf  ceanothus 

98 

98 

54 

1.20 

1.07» 

97 

100 

60 

0.89 

1.00» 

98 

99 

56 

0.79 

0.92  b 

98 

100 

54 

0.70 

0.86* 

100 

97 

44 

0.64 

0.76d 

300 

100 

42 

0.73 

0.75d 

293 

99 

36 

0.75 

0.66<» 

300 

100 

37 

0.75 

0.68d 

96 
100 


94 

1)7 


Mariposa  manzanita 
99 
89 
96 
61 
74 


32 
33 
36 
15 
30 


1.44 
1.22 
0.92 
0.56 
0.84 


1.35* 
1.17»b 

l.Olbo 

0.52d 
0.93  « 


1  Symbol   of   element   and   year   applied.    Large   plots  have   more   than    100   measured 

leaders. 

2  See  Table  I  footnote  for  explanation. 


adjusted  values  of  amount  removed  revealed  that  the  NS  and  NSP 
treatments  were  browsed  significantly  more  than  the  control,  NP,  and 
P  treatments  (Table  3).  These  data  indicate  deer  actually  consumed 
more  of  the  twigs  of  the  sulphur-fertilized  plants  since  there  was  very 
little  difference  in  the  percent  of  twigs  browsed  among  the  treatments 
(column  3  of  Table  3). 

During  the  winter  1959-60,  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  utilization  was  mea- 
sured on  the  following  treatments :  control ;  fertilized  with  NP  in  1958 
and  1959 ;  and  fertilized  with  NP  in  1958  only.  On  the  small  plots  fer- 
tilized in  1958  the  NP,  N,  P,  NS,  and  NSP  treatments  were  included 
(Table  4). 

The  percent  reduction  in  leader  length  on  all  treatments  indicated 
utilization  was  heavier  than  during  the  previous  winter  (column  4  of 
Tables  3  and  4).  The  deer  did  not  browse  the  large  plot  NP  treatments, 
even  the  one  fertilized  in  1958  and  1959,  more  than  the  control.  But  the 
treatments  containing  sulfur  were  browsed  significantly  more  than  the 
control  and  most  of  the  other  treatments  (Table  4).  The  consistent  pre- 
ference by  deer  for  the  sulphur-fertilized  plants  indicates  that  sulphur 
may  help  increase  the  palatability  of  the  plants. 

While  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  is  a  preferred  browse  species,  mariposa 
manzanita  is  low  in  palatability.  Consequently,  utilization  of  the  fer- 
tilized mariposa  manzanita  plants  was  measured  to  see  if  fertilization 
increased  its  attractiveness  to  deer.  All  of  the  treatments  previously 
described  for  this  species  were  used.  As  with  wedgeleaf  ceanothus,  it 
was  necessary  to  adjust  the  amount  removed  before  making  com- 
parisons. 

The  NP  treatment  received  the  heaviest  use,  probably  reflecting  the 
heavier  rate  of  fertilization  (Table  4).  The  NPS  treatment  was  used 


278 


CALIFORNIA  FISH   AND   GAME 


more  than  the  control  but  the  NS  treatment  was  not.  Utilization  on 
the  P  treatment  was  significantly  lower  than  on  the  other  treatments. 
Besides  having  larger  amounts  browsed  from  twigs,  plants  in  the  NP, 
NS,  and  NSP  treatments  also  had  a  higher  percentage  of  twigs  browsed 
(Table  4).  This  indicates  they  were  more  attractive  to  deer  than  the 
control  or  phosphorus-fertilized  plants.  Why  the  P  treatment  received 
less  use  than  the  control  is  not  clear.  This  phenomenon  also  occurred 
on  the  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  treatments  the  first  season  after  fertilization. 


NITROGEN  AND  PHOSPHORUS  CONTENT  OF  WEDGELEAF 
CEANOTHUS  LEAVES 

Leaves  were  analyzed  to  determine  how  soon  fertilizers  were  taken 
up  by  the  mature  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  plants  and  how  the  nitrogen 
and  phosphorus  content  of  leaves  was  affected.  Leaves  furnish  the  bulk 
of  usable  browse  and  can  be  collected  and  analyzed  more  readily  than 
twigs.  Composite  leaf  samples  from  mature  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  plants 
were  collected  from  the  area  fertilized  with  ammonium  phosphate  at 
the  rate  of  100  pounds  of  N  and  200  pounds  of  PoOr,  per  acre  in  the 
fall  of  1958.  Collections  were  made  for  five  different  months  during 
1959.  Total  phosphorus  determinations  were  made  colorimetrieally  after 
wet  digestion  with  ternary  acid  as  described  by  Johnson  and  Ulrich 
(1959).  Total  nitrogen  was  determined  by  the  micro-Kjeldahl  method. 

The  total  nitrogen  and  phosphorus  content  of  the  leaf  samples  is 
given  in  Table  5.  Analysis  of  variance  showed  a  highly  significant 
difference  (P  <  .01)  among  dates  and  between  treatments  for  both 
nitrogen  and  phosphorus.  The  nitrogen  content  of  the  leaves  from 
fertilized  bushes  was  consistently  higher  than  that  from  the  leaves  of 
control  bushes.  This  difference  was  less  pronounced  for  June  than  for 
other  months.  However,  fertilizing  apparently  had  a  depressing  effect 
on  the  phosphorus  content  of  the  leaves.  The  phosphorus  content  was 
consistently  lower  for  the  fertilized  plants  than  for  the  control  plants. 
One  possible  explanation  for  the  lower  phosphorus  content  in  the  leaves 
of  fertilized  plants  is  a  dilution  effect  resulting  from  stimulation  by 
nitrogen. 

Contrary  to  data  of  Gordon  and  Sampson  (1939),  the  content  of 
both  nitrogen  and  phosphorus  increased  from  June  to  October.  This 
increase  is  probablv  related  to  an  unusually  heavy  rain  which  fell  on 
September  18,  1959. 

TABLE  5 

Total  Nitrogen  and  Phosphorous  Content  of  Wedgeleaf  Ceanothus  Leaves  Collected  from 

Fertilized  and  Control  Plots  During  1959 


Treatment 

January 

April 

June 

July 

October 

Fertilized 

Control 

Perc 
1.80 
1.70 

Perce 
0.153 
0.156 

ent  Nitrogen* 
2.52 
2.25 

nt  Phosphorus 
0.229 
0.245 

1.87 
1.83 

* 

0.150 
0.183 

1.67 
1.43 

0.120 
0.140 

2.10 
1.90 

0.173 

0.200 

•  Each  figure  Is  an  average  of  three  composite  samples  collected  for  each  date  and 
treatment.  Averages  were  made  after  arc  sine  transformations  (Snedecor,  1956). 


BROWSE  FERTILIZATION  279 


DISCUSSION 


Although  the  fertilizer  trials  were  conducted  during  years  of  below 
normal  rainfall,  they  showed  that  fertilization  will  significantly  increase 
the  growth  of  browse  plants,  even  when  moisture  becomes  limiting  early 
in  the  growing  season.  The  magnitude  of  response  would  undoubtedly 
be  grea'ter  in  years  of  higher  rainfall. 

Since  fertilization  increased  the  mortality  of  wedgeleaf  ceanothus 
seedlings,  even  when  well-established,  it  would  not  be  advisable  to 
fertilize  areas  where  manipulation  results  in  a  poor  stand  of  seedlings, 
or  where  natural  thinning  will  provide  the  desired  density.  But  by 
increasing  the  growth  of  herbaceous  plants,  fertilizers  could  be  used 
to  thin  a  stand  of  seedlings  if  they  were  too  thick.  Such  a  practice 
might  be  desirable  on  areas  where  livestock  are  more  important  users 
than  deer.  Even  when  growing  in  competition  with  grasses,  brush 
seedlings  will  respond  to  an  increase  in  fertility  level  (Gartner,  et  al, 
1957).  Thus,  the  growth  of  surviving  seedlings  in  a  thinning  operation 
would  be  increased. 

There  was  no  measurable  growth  response  to  fertilization  by  the 
heavily  browsed  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  seedlings,  but  a  response  could 
be  expected  under  lighter  use  levels.  Since  browse  production  on 
manipulated  areas  dominated  by  nonsprouting  species  is  low  until  the 
plants  attain  a  fair  size,  an  accelerated  growth  rate  is  desirable.  Ferti- 
lizers could  be  used  to  increase  growth  while  allowing  a  higher  level 
of  use  than  would  otherwise  be  possible. 

Mortality  of  mature  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  and  mariposa  manzanita 
plants  was  not  affected  during  the  study  period.  The  increased  growth 
of  partially  decadent  plants  indicates  that  fertilization  might  be  effec- 
tive for  restoring  plant  vigor  on  over-utilized  areas. 

Deer  exhibited  some  preference  for  plants  which  were  fertilized, 
especially  those  receiving  sulphur.  It  is  quite  possible  that,  if  more 
browse  were  available  and  the  deer  had  more  freedom  of  choice,  a 
greater  preference  would  be  displayed.  Even  though  it  seems  logical 
to  assume  leaf  use  is  proportional  to  twig  use,  a  measure  of  the  amount 
of  leaves  utilized,  especially  in  the  spring;  might  show  a  higher  prefer- 
ence for  fertilized  plants.  Mariposa  manzanita,  for  example,  has  very 
large  leaves  which  are  easily  picked  off  without  biting  the  twig.  Reduc- 
tion in  the  length  of  twigs  is  not  the  best  measure  of  preference.  The 
basal  portions  of  twigs  become  progressively  more  woody,  and  harder 
to  bite  off,  regardless  of  how  they  taste  to  a  browsing  animal. 

On  areas  such  as  winter  ranges,  where  use  of  preferred  browse  species 
is  extremely  heavy,  it  might  not  be  advisable  to  increase  utilization  of 
the  plants  by  making  them  more  attractive  to  deer.  The  increased  use 
could  cause  excessive  mortality.  However,  many  of  the  preferred  browse 
plants  grow  rapidly  and  can  readily  escape  the  deer  (Gibbens  and 
Schultz,  1961).  On  areas  receiving  moderate  to  light  use,  fertilization 
could  be  used  to  increase  the  utilization  of  preferred  browse  species 
and  prevent  them  from  growing  out  of  reach. 

The  preference  shown  by  deer  for  the  fertilized  mariposa  manzanita 
plants  indicates  that  the  utilization  of  less  preferred  species  may  be 
increased.  In  this  case  nitrogen,  phosphorus,  and  sulphur  in  combination 
were  effective.  Other  combinations  and  rates  need  to  be  tested.  Browse 


280  CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 

species  lo"w  in  palatability  occupy  vast  areas  and  tend  to  increase  at  the 
expense  of  their  more  preferred  neighbors.  An  effective  means  of 
changing  palatability  would  resull  in  a  manyfold  increase  in  range 
area  and  quantity  of  usable  forage. 

The  quality  of  browse  may  be  equally  as  important  as  quantity.  If 
protein  is  a  critical  constituent,  nitrogen  fertilizer  may  improve  the 
quality  of  browse.  Since  the  uptake  is  very  rapid,  there  would  be  little 
time  lag  in  the  application  of  such  a  management  practice.  However, 
if  phosphorus  is  critical,  nitrogen  fertilization  may  actually  decrease 
the  phosphorus  content  of  the  leaves  and  phosphorus  may  become  defi- 
cient. Certainly  the  nutritional  requirements  of  deer  and  the  amounts 
of  nutrients  supplied  by  browse  need  further  investigation. 

The  use  of  fertilizers  on  game  ranges  would  have  desirable  effects  in 
aspects  other  than  quantity  or  quality  of  browse.  Maintaining  a  grass- 
brush  ratio  adjusted  to  the  relative  needs  of  livestock  and  game  on  par- 
ticular areas  would  permit  fuller  use  of  the  land.  The  inability  of  many 
brushland  areas  to  support  a  maximal  growth  of  plants  due  to  low  fer- 
tility levels  leads  to  a  high  erosion  rate  and  further  depletion  of  soil 
nutrients.  Interruption  of  this  cycle  by  fertilizers  would  greatly  in- 
crease the  watershed  value  of  the  land  (Hellmers  et  al.,  1955). 

While  no  argument  is  being  presented  concerning  the  economic  feasi- 
bility of  fertilizing  game  ranges  at  this  time,  it  is  quite  conceivable  that 
such  a  practice  may  be  desirable,  and  readily  financed,  in  the  future. 
This  study  indicates  that  fertilizers  could  supply  the  game  manager 
with  a  valuable  tool  for  habitat  manipulation  on  brush  ranges  where 
soil  fertility  levels  are  low.  Further  study  of  the  effect  of  fertilizers  on 
browse  plants,  particularly  on  palatability,  is  recommended. 

SUMMARY 

The  effect  of  fertilization  on  the  growth  and  utilization  of  browse 
plants  was  studied  on  a  deer  winter  range  in  Madera  County,  Cali- 
fornia. The  effect  of  N,  P,  and  S,  in  various  combinations,  on  seedlings 
and  mature  plants  of  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  and  mature  plants  of  mari- 
posa  manzanita  was  investigated.  The  studies  were  conducted  in  1959 
and  1960.  During  both  years  precipitation  was  far  below  normal. 

Fertilization  with  NP  increased  the  mortality  of  wedgeleaf  ceanothus 
seedlings,  especially  those  only  one  and  two  years  old.  Deer  did  not 
utilize  fertilized  seedlings  more  than  nonfertilized  seedlings.  Fertilized 
seedlings  did  not  increase  in  height  more  than  those  not  fertilized,  prob- 
ably because  of  the  heavy  utilization. 

Despite  the  extremely  dry  conditions,  mature,  heavily  hedged  wedge- 
leaf ceanothus  plants  on  an  old  wildfire  burn  responded  to  fertilizers  by 
increased  twig  growth.  Carryover  effect  was  evident  only  when  N  and  P 
were  in  combination.  Growth  response  of  mariposa  manzanita  was  meas- 
ured for  only  one  season.  All  of  the  fertilized  plants  produced  signifi- 
cantly more  twig  growth  than  those  not  fertilized. 

The  reduction  in  twig  length  by  deer  was  used  as  an  index  to  utiliza- 
tion of  the  mature  plants.  Sulphur-fertilized  plants  of  wedgeleaf  ceano- 
thus were  browsed  significantly  more  than  control  plants  and  most  of 
the  other  fertilizer  treatments.  Fertilized  plants  of  mariposa  manza- 
nita, a  species  low  in  palatability  were   utilized  more  than  control 


BROWSE  FERTILIZATION  281 

plants.  The  rather  consistent  preference  by  deer  for  fertilized  plants 
indicates  that  fertilization  may  be  an  effective  means  of  increasing  pal- 
atability. 

Analyses  of  leaves  collected  from  wedgeleaf  ceanothus  plants  showed 
a  consistently  higher  nitrogen  content  in  leaves  of  ammonia-phosphate- 
fertilized  plants.  Phosphorus  content  was  consistently  lower  for  the  fer- 
tilized plants,  possibly  due  to  a  dilution  effect  resulting  from  stimula- 
tion by  nitrogen. 

Since  fertilizers  may  be  used  to  increase  growth  and  palatability, 
cause  selective  thinning  and  browsing,  and  improve  watershed  values, 
they  offer  the  game  manager  an  effective  tool  for  habitat  manipulation 
on  brush  ranges  where  soil  fertility  is  limiting. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The  authors  thank  Drs.  A.  M.  Schultz  and  H.  H.  Biswell  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  California,  and  Dr.  George  R.  Hawkes,  Agronomist,  Cali- 
fornia Spray-Chemical  Corporation,  for  their  advice  and  assistance. 

REFERENCES 
Gartner,  F.  R.,  A.  M.  Schultz,  and  H.  H.  Biswell 

1957.    Ryegrass  and  brush  seedling  competition  for  nitrogen  on   two  soil  types. 
J.  Range  Mgmt.,  vol.  10,  no.  5,  pp.  213-220. 
Gibbens,  R.  P.,  and  A.  M.  Schultz 

1961.    Manipulation  of  shrub  form  and  browse  production.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game, 
vol.  48,  no.  1,  pp.  49-64. 
Gordon,  Aaron,  and  Arthur  W.  Sampson 

1939.    Composition   of   common   California   foothill   plants   as   a   factor  in   range 
management.  Calif.  Agri.  Expt.  Sta.  Bull.  no.  627.  95  pp. 
Hellmers,  Henry,  James  F.  Bonner,  and  John  M.  Kelleher 

1955.  Soil  fertility  :  a  watershed  management  problem  in  the  San  Gabriel  Moun- 
tains of  southern  California.  Soil  Sci.,  vol.  80,  no.  3,  pp.  189-197. 

Jenny,  H.,  J.  Vlamis,  and  W.  E.  Martin 

1950.    Greenhouse  assay  of  fertility  of  California  soils.  Hilgardia,  vol.  20,  no.  1, 
pp.  1-8. 
Johnson,  Clarence  M.,  and  Albert  Ulrich 

1959.    Analytical  methods  for  use  in  plant  analysis.  Calif.  Agric.  Expt.  Sta.  Bull, 
no.  766,  pp.  25-77. 
Lay,  D.  W. 

1957.  Browse  quality  and  the  effects  of  prescribed  burning  in  southern  pine  for- 
ests. Jour.  Forestry,  vol.  55,  no.  5,  pp.  342-347. 

Schultz,  A.  M.,  H.  H.  Biswell,  and  J.  Vlamis 

1958.  Responses  of  brush  seedlings  to  fertilizers.  Calif.  Fish  and  Game,  vol.  44, 
no.  4,  pp.  335-348. 

Snedecor,  George  W. 

1956.  Statistical  methods.  Iowa  State  College  Press,  Ames,  534  pp. 
Vlamis,  J.,  A.  M.  Schultz,  and  H.  H.  Biswell 

1959.  Nutrient   response   of  ponderosa   pine   and   brush   seedlings   on   forest   and 
brush  soils  of  California.  Hilgardia,  vol.  28,  no.  9,  pp.  239-254. 

Vlamis,  J.,  E.  C.  Stone,  and  C.  L.  Young 

1954.    Nutrient  status  of  brushland  soils  in  southern  California.  Soil  Sci.,  vol.  78, 
no.  1,  pp.  51-55. 


NOTE 

THE  OCCURRENCE  AND  DISTINCTION  OF  THREADFIN  SHAD 
IN  SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA  OCEAN  WATERS1 

A  threadfm  shad,  Dorosoma  petenense  (Giinther),  was  caught  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1962,  in  a  10-minute  tow  with  a  shrimp  try-net  approxi- 
mately 75  yards  off  Belmont  Shore,  Long  Beach,  in  three  fathoms  of 
water.  This  specimen,  80  mm  standard  length,  was  taken  while  trawl- 
ing for  juvenile  white  seabass.  Although  introduced  into  many  fresh- 
water areas  of  California  by  the  Department  of  Fish  and  Game,  this 
is  the  first  known  record  from  southern  California  ocean  waters.  Pos- 


iA   contribution    of   Federal    Aid    to    Fish    Restoration,    California    Project    F    16    R, 
"Barracuda-White  Seabass  Management  Study." 


FIGURE   1.     Threadfm    shad    Dorosoma   pefenense,    113    mm    standard    length.      (Photo   by   Jack 

W.  Schott.) 


FIGURE   2.      Thread   herring,  Opisthonema  libertate,  111    mm  standard  length.      (Photo  by  Jack 

W.  Schott.) 

(282  ) 


NOTE 


283 


TABLE  1 
Characters  for  Distinguishing  Threadfin  Shad  and  Thread  Herring 


Characters 

Species 

Mouth 

Pectoral  fin 

Dorsal-pelvic 
fin  relationship 

Total 
ventral  scutes 

Threadfin  shad-. 

inferior 

extends  at  least  to  pelvic 
fin  insertion 

dorsal  origin  nearly  ver- 
tical to  pelvic  insertion 

25  to  27 

Thread  herring.. 

terminal.. 

does  not  reach  pelvic  fin 
insertion 

dorsal  origin  well  in  ad- 
vance of  pelvic  inser- 
tion 

31  to  33 

sibly  the  heavy  rains  during  January  and  early  February  1962  flushed 
this  individual  from  the  Los  Angeles  or  San  Gabriel  Kiver  drainages. 

This  occurrence  demonstrates  a  possible  need  for  a  simple  means  of 
differentiating  this  species  (Figure  1)  from  the  thread  herring,  Opis- 
thonema  libertate  (Giinther)  (Figure  2),  a  similar  clupeid  reported 
in  California  ocean  waters  (Radovich,  1961).  The  characters  I  have 
listed  will  enable  the  field  biologist  to  distinguish  between  the  two 
species  easily  (Table  1). 

Characters  were  determined  from  10  threadfin  shad,  105  to  165  mm 
standard  length,  from  the  Salton  Sea  and  10  thread  herring,  82  to  176 
mm  standard  length,  from  the  Gulf  of  California. 


LITERATURE  CITED 

Radovich,  John 

1961.  Relationships  of  some  marine  organisms  of  the  northeast  Pacific  to  water 
temperatures,  particularly  during  1957  through  1959.  Calif.  Dept.  Fish 
and  Game,  Fish  Bull.  112,  p.  27,  tab.  4. 

James   G.   Thomas,  Marine  Resources   Operations,   California  Department 

of  Fish  and  Game,  June  1962. 


RETIREMENTS 

RICHARD  S.  CROKER 

Richard  S.  Croker,  Chief  of  Marine  Resources,  retired  from  the 
Department  of  Fish  and  Game  on  August  31,  1962,  after  33  years  of 
service. 

His  interest  in  the  marine  resources  and  fish  and  game  work  was 
kindled  by  summer  employment  with  the  California  Fish  and  Game 
Commission  while  working  toward  his  degree  in  zoology  at  Stanford 
University.  In  1927  he  worked  as  a  fish  car  messenger,  transporting 
fish  from  Mt.  Shasta  hatchery.  In  1928  he  worked  as  a  student  biologist 
on  albacore  studies. 

Croker  commenced  his  permanent  career  with  the  Department  of 
Fish  and  Game  in  July  1929  following  graduation  from  Stanford. 
From  July  1929  to  1942  he  worked  at  Terminal  Island  as  a  biologist. 
The  results  of  his  scientific  investigations  and  research  are  published 
in  numerous  bulletins.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  was  also  editor  of 
California  Fish  and  Game.  He  went  on  military  leave  from  1942  to 
1946  where  he  served  in  the  U.S.  Army  Air  Force,  attaining  the  rank 
of  captain  with  specialized  training  and  served  nine  months  as  fisheries 
officer  for  the  occupation  forces  in  Japan.  Croker  was  reinstated  in  the 
Department  in  1946  and  was  promoted  to  chief  of  the  Marine  Resources 
Branch.  His  broad  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  marine  resources 
and  the  problems  involved  in  their  management  brought  international 
recognition  to  both  himself  and  the  Department  of  Fish  and  Game. 
As  chief  of  Marine  Resources  Branch  his  unique  ability  to  foresee 
into  the  far  future  of  resources,  plus  his  unselfish  recommendations 
for  scientific  management,  is  reflected  in  many  of  the  present-day 
policies. 

Duties  and  responsibilities  in  addition  to  that  of  chief  of  Marine 
Resources  Branch  included  serving  since  1947  as  member  of  Pacific 
Marine  Fisheries  Commission;  since  1947  to  date,  as  secretary  of  the 
California  Marine  Research  Committee;  1953  to  date,  member  of  Ad- 
visory Committee  to  U.S.  Section  of  the  International  North  Pacific 
Fisheries  Commission;  1946  to  date,  member  of  Fisheries  Advisory 
Committee  for  the  Department  of  State;  October  1950  to  January 
1951,  visiting  expert  assigned  to  Fisheries  Division  to  investigate  and 
analyze  the  fisheries  administration  of  Japan  for  the  Supreme  Com- 
mander of  Allied  Powers  in  Tokyo;  January  to  March  1952  as  instruc- 
tor, Fisheries  Training  Center,  FAO  Valparaiso,  Chile;  March  to 
April  1960,  consultant  and  adviser  for  U.S.  Senate  Committee  on 
Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  at  second  United  Nations  Conference 
on  Law  of  the  Sea,  Geneva,  Switzerland;  February  1961,  member  of 
Governor  Egan's  Inter  Agency  Conference  on  Salmon,  Juneau,  Alaska. 

(284  ) 


RETIKEMENTS  285 

Croker  belongs  to  the  following  professional  societies :  American 
Fisheries  Society  (president)  ;  American  Institute  of  Fisheries  Re- 
search Biologists  (fellow)  ;  American  Society  of  Ichthyologists  and 
Herpetologists  (member)  ;  Pacific  Fisheries  Biologists  (member). 

He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Sierra  Club  and  the  Air  Force  Associa- 
tion. 

From  1931  to  1962  his  career  was  further  enriched  by  numerous 
trips  in  the  interests  of  marine  resources  to  Canada,  Mexico,  and  Japan. 
Vacation  travels  took  him  to  Panama,  Central  America,  and  Europe. 

The  following  inscription  was  found  on  a  wall  in  Croker 's  office: 
"No  life  is  more  satisfactory  than  one  of  service  to  your  country  and 
humanity,  with  the  courage  to  stand  up  unflinchingly  to  your  convic- 
tions" (Dag  Hammarskjold).  Croker  believes  this  and  it  seems  to 
epitomize  his  33  years'  service  with  the  Department  of  Fish  and  Game. 

Croker 's  retirement  will  not  take  him  from  the  field  of  marine  re- 
sources for  he  has  accepted  the  position  of  Executive  Director  of  the 
Pacific  Marine  Fisheries  Commission.  With  his  wife  Annie  he  will 
move  to  Portland,  Oregon,  headquarters  of  the  Pacific  Marine  Fish- 
eries Commission.  There,  it  is  hoped,  he  can  continue  to  pursue  his 
hobbies  of  fishing,  hunting,  photography,  stamp  collecting,  radio,  and 
travel. 

His  numerous  friends  and  colleagues  at  home  and  abroad  wish  him 
well. — W.  T.  Shannon,  Director,  California  Department  of  Fish  and 
Game. 


WILLIAM  LaMARR 

William  LaMarr,  Chief  of  Wildlife  Protection  Branch  retired  from 
the  Department  of  Fish  and  Game  on  May  2,  1962,  after  26  years  of 
service.  He  is  a  native  of  Colorado. 

Prior  to  his  service  with  the  State,  LaMarr  served  in  the  U.  S.  Army 
Cavalry,  San  Mateo  County  Sheriff's  Office  and  the  Palo  Alto  Police 
Department. 

He  began  his  State  service  as  a  fire-suppression  crewman  with  the 
Division  of  Forestry  in  1935.  He  advanced  to  Forest  Fire  Lookout  in 
1936.  Later  the  same  year  he  joined  the  old  Division  of  Fish  and  Game 
as  an  Assistant  Fish  and  Game  Warden.  In  1938  he  was  appointed 
Fish  and  Game  Warden.  LaMarr  went  on  military  leave  from  1942  to 
1943.  In  1947  he  was  promoted  to  Fish  and  Game  Patrol  Captain. 
In  1953  he  was  promoted  to  Wildlife  Protection  Supervisor  and  in 
1955  was  elevated  to  Chief  Wildlife  Protection  Branch. 

During  his  career  in  Fish  and  Game,  LaMarr  was  assigned  to  Shasta, 
Los  Angeles,  Monterey,  Oakland,  Nevada  City,  Truckee,  Angels  Camp, 
Colfax,  Auburn  and  Sacramento. 

His  co-workers  and  many  friends  in  the  Department  extend  best 
wishes  for  a  long  and  happy  retirement. — W.  T.  Shannon,  Director, 
California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game. 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  Physiology  of  Crustacea.  Volume  II — Sense  Organs,  Integration  and  Behavior 

Edited   by   Talbot   H.   Waterman,   Academic   Press,   Inc.,   New   York,   1961 ;    v    4- 

681  pp.,  22  tables,  142  figures.  $22. 

Volume  II  continues  the  fine  work  begun  in  its  predecessor  (Vol.  1,  Metabolism 
and  growth).  The  text  is  a  review  of  crustacean  physiology  written  by  selected 
western  world  authorities.  They  cover  a  wide  range  of  material  as  indicated  by  the 
following  14  chapter  headings :  "Light  Sensitivity  and  Vision,"  "Mechanoreeeption," 
"Chemoreception  and  Thermoreception,"  "Pigmentary  Effectors,"  "Light  Produc- 
tion," "The  Neuromuscular  System,"  "Reflexes  and  the  Central  Nervous  System," 
"Neurohumors  and  Neurosecretion,"  "Locomotion,"  "Kinetic  and  Tactic  Responses," 
"Physiological  Rhythms,"  "Migrations,"  "Complex  Behavior,"  and  "Comparative 
Physiology." 

The  authors  should  be  complimented  for  using  excellent  photographs  and  drawings 
and  for  their  extensive  list  of  up-to-date  world-wide  references.  Also  worthy  of 
note  are  the  author,  systematic  and  subject  indexes. 

Although  little  attention  has  been  given  the  commercially  important  species  of  the 
Pacific  West  Coast  (two  references  to  Cancer  magister  Dana),  it  can  be  a  valuable 
source  book  to  the  crustacean  biologist.  Because  of  this  value,  and  because  of  its 
expense  ($22)  it  should  be  available  in  libraries. 

The  only  error  noted  was  one  of  binding :  pages  659-674  of  the  subject  index 
were  inserted  between  pages  352  and  353  of  the  text.  No  confusion  resulted  however 
since  these  pages  were  repeated  in  their  proper  place. J.  D.  Messersmith,  Cali- 
fornia Department  of  Fish  and  Game. 

Fishes  of  the  Pacific  Coast  of  Canada 

By  W.  A.  Clemens  and  G.  V.  Wilby ;  Fisheries  Research  Board  of  Canada,  Ottawa, 

1961 ;  443  pp.,  281  black  and  white  figures,  6  color  plates ;  $5. 

This  is  the  second  or  revised  edition  of  the  only  recent  complete  work  on  Canadian 
Pacific  Coast  fishes.  The  first  edition,  published  in  1946,  had  been  out-of-print  for 
nearly  three  years. 

The  general  arrangement  of  this  book  is  quite  similar  to  that  of  the  first  edition ; 
however,  the  39-page  key  to  families  and  species  has  been  greatly  improved  and 
made  easier  to  use.  Also,  with  revision  the  total  pagination  went  up  from  368  to 
443  and  the  number  of  species  from  245  to  272.  A  new  feature  is  the  six  pages  of 
color  plates  at  the  center  of  the  book. 

Since  the  first  edition  was  so  well-known  and  well-used  by  fishery  workers, 
students  and  educators  everywhere,  it  would  be  superfluous  on  my  part  to  describe 
in  detail  the  content  of  this  edition.  It  should  be  mentioned,  however,  that  the 
authors  have  followed  closely  the  vernacular  nomenclature  proposed  by  the  Ameri- 
can Fisheries  Society  in  1960. 

The  only  "big"  complaint  I  would  like  to  register  is  that  the  authors  have  limited 
the  range  for  each  species,  "to  that  portion  of  the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America 
from  Southern  California  to  the  Alaskan  coast  of  the  Bering  Sea." 

As  with  any  undertaking  of  this  magnitude,  a  few  inaccuracies  and  erroneous 
statements  have  crept  in — a  few  are  original  but  others  have  been  carried  in  various 
published  works  for  years. 

Regardless  of  these  problems,  the  volume  is  an  outstanding  contribution  to  the 
literature  and  the  field  of  fishery  biology  and  should  grace  the  book  shelves  of  every 

student  of  fishes  or  fisheries  whether  amateur  or   professional. John   E.   Fitch, 

California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game. 


(286  ) 


REVIEWS  287 

Illustrated  Dictionary  of  Tropical  Fishes 

By  Hans  Frey  ;  (translation  from  the  German),  T.F.H.  Publications  Inc.,  Jersey 
City,  N.J.,  1961 ;  768  p.,  over  1,000  illustrations  incl.  24  color  plates.  $7.95. 

Dictionary  form  is  used  in  this  unique  volume  listing  virtually  every  known 
species  of  tropical  fish  and  a  number  not  tropical.  Subjects  pertinent  to  fish  rearing 
are  also  included :  aquatic  plants  and  insects,  snails,  and  diseases. 

The  original  edition,  Das  Aquarium  von  A  biz  Z,  a  popular  book  in  communist 
East  Germany,  has  been  revised  to  include  well  over  1,000  excellent  illustrations 
including  line  drawings,  photographs  and  24  full-page  color  plates.  The  color  plates 
in  a  few  cases  are  somewhat  exaggerated. 

Fin  formulas  are  given  for  many  of  the  fishes  along  with  brief  descriptions  of 
other  anatomical  features. 

A  pictorial  catalogue  featuring  microphotographs  of  various  forms  of  algae  and 
other  aquatic  organisms  is  on  the  last  several  pages. 

Minor  technical  errors  were  encountered,  e.g.,  page  42,  referring  to  Ampullarius, 
"Aquatic  plants  cannot  be  kept  with  them."  This  is  true  for  Ampullarius  with  the 
exception  of  Ampullaria  cuprina,  a  popular  aquarium  snail ;  page  97,  "The  fishes 
in  these  regions  feed  preponderantly  on  the  larvae  of  Chironomus  and  other  mos- 
quitoes .  .  ."  This  error  in  classification  and  other  technical  errors  are  probably 
the  result  of  the  author's  endeavor  to  cover  too  large  a  field.  Mistakes  commonly 
incurred  in  translation  are  present  but  do  not  detract  from  the  technical  value  of 
the  book. 

The  naturalist  as  well  as  the  most  experienced  biologist  will  find  this  a  very 
worthwhile  reference  manual  for  his  library. J.  A.  St.  Amant,  California  Depart- 
ment of  Fish  and  Game. 

All  About  Camping 

By  W.  K.  Merrill,  The  Stackpole  Company,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  1962;  262  pp.,  il- 
lustrations by  Dick  Pargeter  and  Luis  M.  Henderson  ;  $3.95. 

When  one  sees  the  colloquial  phrase  of  comparison,  "all  about — something,"  his 
first  reaction  is  usually  one  of  doubt.  Admittedly,  this  was  my  first  reaction.  But 
like  most  first  reactions,  mine  changed  after  reading  this  book.  If  it  is  not  "all  about 
camping"  it  is  about  as  close  as  is  presently  available  between  the  covers  of  a  single 
volume.  Everything  from  an  extensive  list  of  camping  areas  within  the  United 
States  to  details  for  the  care  of  pack  animals  is  discussed.  Some  subjects  are  dealt 
with  in  a  sentence  or  two,  while  an  entire  chapter  is  devoted  to  others.  A  rather 
extensive  bibliography  refers  the  reader  to  more  exhaustive  literary  works  on  spe- 
cific subjects. 

Three  chapters  covering  three  separate  but  related  subjects  are  particularly  note- 
worthy. These  are:  "Pathfinding  by  compass"  (how  to  make  practical  use  of  a 
compass)  ; "Pathfinding  with  maps"  (how  to  read  and  use  topographic  maps)  ;  and 
"Outdoor  measurement"  (how  to  determine  height  and  distance  in  the  field  without 
the  customary  measuring  aids).  All  three  technical  subjects  are  amazingly  clear 
and  complete. 

The  author  has  drawn  upon  knowledge  gained  during  nearly  a  half  century  of 
experience  in  the  wilderness.  His  youth  was  spent  on  the  Colville  Indian  Reservation 
and  most  of  his  adult  life  has  been  with  the  National  Park  Service  as  a  park 
ranger,  primarily  in  California.  Sometime  between  1922  and  1927  he  was  an  em- 
ployee of  the  California  Fish  and  Game  Commission. 

All  About  Camping  is  appropriately  summarized  by  a  short  quote  from  the 
"Foreword,"  written  by  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Steward  L.  Udall.  "Here,  in  a 
volume  small  enough  to  be  tucked  into  a  knapsack,  is  a  ready  reference  filled  with 
camping  hints  and  woodlore  gleaned  from  W.  K.  Merrill's  years  of  experience  as  a 
park  ranger — covering  all  those  numerous  details  that  make  camping  a  comfortable 

and  rewarding  experience  instead  of  a  bedraggled  comedy  of  camping  errors." 

William  L.  Craig,  California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game. 

California  Desert  Wildflowers 

By  Philip  A.  Munz,  University  of  California  Press,  Berkeley,  1962;  122  p.,  96 
color  photos,  172  line  drawings,  2  maps ;  $2.95  paperbound. 

California  Desert  Wild  flowers  is  the  second  of  three  little  books  on  California 
flowering  plants  that  Dr.  Munz  has  undertaken  to  produce  for  the  person  with  no 
particular  botanical  training  but  with  an  avid  interest  in  our  native  flora. 


288  CALIFORNIA   FISH    AND  GAME 

For  ease  of  use,  the  book  has  been  arranged  into  five  sections,  four  according  to 
flower  color  with  ferns  and  conehearers  in  the  other. 

The  illustrations  .are  all  excellent,  whether  line  drawings  or  color  plates,  and  are 
the  backbone  of  the  publication.  There  are  no  "keys"  other  than  flower  color  so 
identification  is  a  matter  of  recognition  and  remembrance.  The  two  indexes  (one 
to  color  plates  and  the  other  to  common  and  scientific  names)  speed  the  task  of 
finding  a  species  for  which  one  recalls  the  name  but  little  else. 

The  brief  species  descriptions  include  details  on  plant  size,  blooming  season,  gen- 
eral appearance  of  the  flowering  plant,  geographical  distribution,  habitat  prefer- 
ences, and  distinguishing  characters  or  peculiarities. John   E.   Fit'-h,    California 

Department  of  Fish  and  Game. 

Manual  of  Ski  Mountaineering 

Edited  by  David  Brower ;  Sierra  Club,  San  Francisco,  California,  1962;  xxii  -4- 
224  pp.,  32  pp.  of  photographs,  many  diagrams;  cloth  $3.75. 

This" book  represents  the  third  edition  (revised  and  brought  up  to  date)  of  a  work 
that  has  long  been  out  of  print.  Two  editions  with  two  printings  of  the  second  attest 
to  its  previous  popularity.  Although  the  name  of  the  book  implies  it  is  for  the  ski 
mountaineer,  its  contents  have  wide  application.  It  has  useful  information  to  the 
cold  weather  camper,  the  fisherman  rock  climbing  to  that  "inaccessible"'  spot  or  to 
the  hiker  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  in  a  lightning  storm  who  has  an.  "overwhelming 
desire  to  be  back  in  camp." 

This  manual  is  not  designed  to  condense  all  that  is  known  on  the  subject  bul 
does  a  masterful  job  in  presenting  the  basic  fundamentals  of  how  to  make  a  safe 
and  sane  winter  excursion. 

The  following  chapter  titles  give  an  idea  of  the  subjects  covered:  1.  Warmth; 
2.  Equipment ;  3.  Climbers  and  Waxes ;  4.  Water ;  5.  Food  ;  6.  The  Technique  of 
Travel ;  7.  Selecting  a  Campsite ;  8.  Shelter ;  9.  Miscellaneous  Notes  on  Camping  : 
10.  Snow  Formation  and  Avalanches;  11.  Compass  and  Map;  12.  First  Aid;  13. 
Transportation  of  the  Injured;  14.  The  Ski  Mountaineering  Test;  15.  Mountaineer- 
ing Routes;  16.  Rock-Climbing;  17.  Ice-Climbing;  and  the  appendix — Check  List 
of  Equipment. 

This  is  a  valuable  reference  book  of  the  subject  and  is  highly  recommended  for 
those  planning  cold  weather  or  snow  trips  or  for  others  just  wanting  to  lie  prepared 

in  case  an  emergency  does  arise. Jack  L.  Hiehle,  California  Department  of  Fish 

and  Game. 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  48 


Abramson,  Norman  J. :  Estimating   the 

number  of  angling  license  pur- 
chasers, 253-255 
Acipenser  trans  montanus:  food  study,  79 
Adenostoma  fasciculatum:   deer  browse, 

56 
Ages :    albacore,   44 ;    Pacific   mackerel, 

1958-59,  222  ;  Pismo  clam,  35  ; 

sardines  in  1959-60,  232  ;  white 

sturgeon,  79 
Aix  sponsa:  on  northwest  coast,  68 
Albacore:     age     determination,     39-48 ; 

bluespot  goby  in  stomach,  250 ; 

eye  lens  proteins,  199 ;   survey 

in   northeastern   Pacific  Ocean 

1960,  179-198;  taken  by  purse 

seiners,  81 
Allenrolfea  occidentalis:  dove  habitat,  92 
Ammonium     nitrate:     used     on     browse 

plants,    272 
Ammonium    phosphate:    used   on   browse 

plants:  269 
Anas  acuta:  on  northwest  coast,  65 
Anas  carolinensis:  on  northwest  coast,  69 
Anas  cyanoptera:  on  northwest  coast,  68 
Anas  discors:  on  northwest  coast,  6S 
Anas  platyrhynchos:  on  northwest  coast, 

65 
Anas  strepera:  on  northwest  coast,  69 
Anchovies:   albacore  bait,  181;  common 

names,  24 
Angler:  nonresponse  of  tag  returns,  5 
Annuli:      determination      for      albacore 

scales,  42 
Anotopterus  pharao:  from  albacore  stom- 
ach, 196 
Anser  albifrons  frontalis:  on  northwest 

coast,  67 
Arctostaphylos  mariposa:  as  deer  browse, 

53  ;  effects  of  fertilizing,  275 
Argentines:  common  names,  24 
Arrow-weed:  dove  food,  95 
Artemisia     tridentata:     in     bitterbrush 

study  area,  203 
A  triplex  spp. :  dove  habitat,  92 
Ay  thy  a  affinis:  on  northwest  coast,  69 
Aythya  americana:  on  northwest  coast, 

69 
Aythya  valisineria:  on  northwest  coast 
72 

B 

Bag  limit:   effect  on  striped  bass  catch, 

158 
Bairdiella:  in  Salton  Sea,  126 
Bairdiella  icistius:  in  Salton  Sea,  126 
Baja  California:  sardine  catch  in  1959- 

60,  235 


Baldwin     Hills:      fossil     gobv     otoliths 

found,  250 
Banding:   waterfowl  at  Humboldt  Bav, 

69 
Barracudas:  common  names,  32 
Bass,  kelp:  eye  lens  proteins,  199 
Bathythermograph:  records  during  alba- 
core cruise,  183 
Baxter,   John    L.:    The   Pismo   clam   in 
1960,   35-37;    see   Ripley,    Cox 
and  Baxter,  228-231 
Behavior:  blacksmith  nesting,  243 ;  blue- 
spot  goby  nesting,  249 
Bell,   Robert   R.:    Age   determination  of 
the  Pacific  albacore  of  the  Cali- 
fornia coast,  39-48 
Big  Bear  Lake:  pond  smelt  introduced, 
142  ;  reward  program  for  tagged 
trout,  12 
Big  Lagoon:  duck  habitat,  66 
Billfishes:  common  names,  29 
Bitterbrush:    stocking    and    spacing    re- 
quirements, 203-208 
Blacksmith:   nesting  behavior,   eggs  and 

larvae,  243 
Blennies,  combtooth:  common  names,  32 
Elite,  sea:  as  dove  food,  95 
Bonefishes:  common  names,  23 
Branta    bernicla    hrota:    on    northwest 

coast,  67 
Branta   canadensis  fulva:   on   northwest 

coast,  67 
Branta    canadensis    minima:    on    north- 
west coast,  67 
Branta   canadensis   parvipes:   on   north- 
west coast,  67 
Branta    nigricans:    on    northwest   coast, 

65 
Brant,  American:  on  northwest  coast,  67 
Brant,  black:  on  northwest  coast,  65 
Bromus  tectorum:  in  bitterbrush  study 

area,  203 
Browning,  Bruce  M.:  Food  habits  of  the 
mourning    dove    in    California, 
91-115 
Browse    plants:    deer,    49 ;    response    to 

fertilizers,  268 
Browsing  factor:  effect  on  shrubs,  50 
Bucephala  albeola:  on  northwest  coast, 

69 
Bucephala  clangula  americana:  on  north- 
west coast,  67 
Bucks   Lake  Dam:   salmon   spawning  in 

stream  below,  77 
Bush,  flannel:  deer  browse,  52 
Butler,  Robert  L.:   Recognition  and  re- 
turn of  trout  tags  by  California 
anglers,  5-18 


(  289) 


290 


CALIFORNIA   FISH   AND  GAME 


Butte  County:  food  items  of  dove,  96 
Butterfishes  :  common  names,  32 


California,  central:  sardine  catch  in 
1959-60,  232 

California  Current :  during  1960  alba- 
core  cruise,  187 

California,  southern:  sardine  catch  in 
1959-60,  235 

Canedav,  Robert  H. :  see  Craig  and 
Caneday,  179-198 

Canneries:  sardine  in  1959-60,  233,  235 

Cannibalism:  bairdiella  in  Salton  Sea, 
126 

Carassius  auratus:  in  Big  Bear  Lake, 
142 

Carlisle,  John  G.,  Jr.:  An  unusual  catch 
of  a  large  number  of  Pacific 
round  herring  off  Long  Beach, 
California,  209 

Carquinez  Strait:  striped  bass  fishery, 
161 

Catch  records:  evaluation  of  party  boat, 
155-171 ;  from  postal  card  sur- 
veys, 172-173 ;  striped  bass 
sportfishing,  153-177 

Cattle:  influence  on  browse,  53 

Ceanothus  cuneatus:  deer  browse,  53 ; 
fertilization  studies,  268 

Ceanothus  leucodermis:  deer  browse,  53 

Ceanothus,  wedgeleaf:  deer  browse,  53 ; 
fertilization  studies,  268 

Cedar,  salt:  dove  food,  95 

Census:  ducks,  68 ;  Pismo  clam,  35-37 ; 
sea  lion,  22S 

Cercocarpus  betuloides:  deer  browse,  52 

Chadwick,  Harold  K.:  Catch  records 
from  the  striped  bass  sport- 
fishery  in  California,  153-177 

Chamise:  deer  browse,  56 

Cheatgrass:  in  bitterbrush  study  area, 
203 

Chen  hyperborea  hyperborea:  on  north- 
west coast,  67 

Chimaeras:  common  names,  23 

Chromis  punctipinnis:  nesting  behavior, 
eggs  and  larvae,  243 

Chrysothamnus  spp.:  in  bitterbrush 
study  area,  203 

Clam,  Pismo:  census  results,  35-37 

Clinids:  common  names,  32 

Clupea  pallasi:  spawning  in  San  Fran- 
cisco Bay,  169 

Codfishes:  common  names,  25 

Cololabis  saira:  seen  during  albacore 
cruise,  186,  196 

Columbia  River:  albacore  caught  off,  82 

Combfishes:  common  names,  31 

Competition:  among  plants  with  bitter- 
brush, 206 ;  for  space  among 
vegetation,  49,  62 

Contracaecum  legendrei:  nematode  par- 
asitic in  albacore,  186 


Coot:  at  Humboldt  Bay,  68 

Corophium  spinicorne:  sturgeon  food,  79 

Coryphopterus  nicholsi:  nesting  behav- 
ior, eggs  and  larvae,  249 

Cox,  K.  W.:  see  Ripley,  Cox  and  Bax- 
ter, 228-231 

Craig,  William  L.,  and  Robert  H.  Cane- 
day: The  1960  preseason  alba- 
core survey  in  the  northeastern 
Pacific  Ocean,  179-198 

Crappie:  in  Big  Bear  Lake,  142 

Croakers:  common  names,  26 

Croker,  Richard  S.:  retirement,  284 

Crops:  dove,  91 

Cutlassfishes:  common  names,  28 

Cynoscion  xanthulus:  in  Salton  Sea,  127 


Damselfishes:  common  names,  28 
Decapterus  hypodus:   at  Monterey  Bav, 

210 
Deer:  dieoffs  from  overpopulation,  126 ; 
pellet  counts,  52 ;  pellet  counts 
on   San  Joaquin  winter  range, 
269 ;      San      Joaquin      winter 
range,      268 ;      utilization      of 
browse,  56 
Delisle,  Glenn  E.:  Water  velocities  tol- 
erated   by    spawning    kokanee 
salmon,  77-78 
Del   Xorte  County:   waterfowl   area,  65 
Delta:  site  for  hypothetical  salmon  fish- 
ery, 258 
Denson,   Eley   P.,    Jr.:    see   Yocom   and 

Denson,  65-76 
Distichlis  spicata:  dove  habitat,  92 
Distinction:   threadfin  shad  from  thread 

herring,  282-283 
Dodge  Reservoir:  pond  smelt  introduced, 

142 
Dolphins:  common  names.  26 
Dormitator  latifrons:  new  to  California. 

220 
DorosoiiHi   petenense:   in    southern    Cali- 
fornia ocean  waters,  282 
Dove,  mourning  :  food  habits  of,  91-115 
Duck,    American    golden-eye :    on    north- 
west coast,  tiT 
Duck,  bufflehead  :  at  Humboldt  Bay,  68 
Duck,  canvasback  :   on  northwest  coast, 

72 
Duck,  gadwall :   on   northwest  coast,  69 
Duck,    harleouin :    on    northwest    coast, 

67 
Duck,  lesser  scaup  :  on  northwest  coast, 

69 
Duck,    pintail :    on    northwest   coast,    65 
Duck,   redhead  :  on  northwest  coast,  69 
Duck,  ruddy  :  on  northwest  coast,  69 
Duck,   shoveler :   at   Humboldt   Bay,  68 
Duck,  wood :  on  northwest  coast,  68 
Dwinnell    Reservoir :    pond   smelt   intro- 
duced,  142 


INDEX 


291 


Ebert,  Earl  E. :  see  Turner  and  Ebert, 

243-248 
Ebert,  Earl  E..  and  C.  H.  Turner :  The 

nesting  behavior,  eggs  and  lar- 
vae of  the  bluespot  goby,  249- 

252 
Eggs :   blacksmith,   246 ;    bluespot   gobv, 

250 
Electrophoretic    characteristics :    of    fish 

eye  lens  proteins,  199-201 
Eleocharis  macrostachya:  in  Lake  Earl, 

67 
Eleotris    pica:    relative    of    Pacific    fat 

sleeper,  220 
EngrauUs  mordax:  albacore  bait,  181 
Etrumeus     accuminatus:     caught     near 

Long  Beach,  209 
Eucidaris   thouarsii:  new  to  California, 

216 
Eumetopias  jubata:  census,  228"^^ 
Euphorbia  spp. :  dove  food,  104 


Filefishes  :  common  names,  33 
Fire :  effect  on  vegetation,  57 
Fishery  :  Pacific  mackerel,  1958-59,  222 
Fitch,   John   E. :    A   sea   urchin,   a   lob- 
ster and  a  fish,  new  to  the  ma- 
rine fauna  of  California,  216- 
221 
Flounders,   lefteye :   common   names,  32 
Flounders,  righteye  :  common  names,  33 
Flyingfishes :  common  names,  25 
Flyway,   Pacific :   importance   to   water- 
fowl, 65 
Food  habits :  dove,  91-115 
Fremontia   californica:   deer  browse,   52 
Freshwater  Lagoon  :   duck  habitat,  66 ; 

pond  smelt  introduced,  142 
Frey,  Herbert  W. :  A  range  extension 
for  the  Mexican  scad  to  Mon- 
terey Bay,  California,  210-211 
Fry,  Donald  H.,  Jr. :  Potential  profits 
in  the  California  salmon  fish- 
ery, 256-267 

G 

Garibaldi :  preying  on  blacksmith  eggs, 
246 

Gates,  Doyle  E.,  and  R.  S.  Wolf:  Age 
and  length  composition  of  the 
sardine  catch  off  the  Pacific 
Coast  of  the  United  States  and 
Mexico  in  1959-60,  232-242 

Gibbens,  R.  P.,  and  Rex  D.  Pieper : 
The  response  of  browse  plants 
to  fertilization,  268-281 

Gibbens,  R.  P.,  and  A.  M.  Schultz : 
manipulation  of  shrub  form 
and  browse  production  in  game 
range  improvement,   49-64 

Gobies :  common  names,  29 

Goby,  bluespot :  nesting  behavior,  eggs 
and  larvae,  249-252 


Goldfish:  in  Big  Bear  Lake,  142 
Goose,   cackling   Canada :   on   northwest 

coast,   67 
Goose,  Canada  :  on  northwest  coast,  67 
Goose,    Emperor :    on    northwest    coast, 

67 
Goose,    lesser    Canada :     on    northwest 

coast,  67 
Goose,  lesser  snow :  on  northwest  coast, 

67 
Goose,      white-fronted :      on      northwest 

coast,  67 
Grass,  eel :  duck  food.  67 
Grass,  salt :  dove  habitat,  92 
Greenlings  :  common  names,  31 
Growth  curve :  albacore,  45 
Grunts :  common  names,  26 
Guitarfishes :  common  names,  22 
Guppies :    reproduction   in   aquaria,   127 

H 

Hagfishes :   common   names.  21 
Hakes :  common  names,  25 
Halfmoons :  common  names,  27 
Hermosa    Beach :    nesting    gobies    seen, 

250 
Herring,     Pacific :     spawning     in     San 

Francisco  Bay,  169 
Herrings :    common   names,   23 
Herring,     thread :     distinguished     from 

threadfin   shad,  282 
Hirudinella  fusca:  parasitic  in  albacore, 

186 
Histrioniciis  histrionicus:  on  northwest 

coast,  67 
Honeysuckle,   as   deer   browse,   53 
Horseshoe  Kelp :   round  herring  caught 

at,  209 
Hubbard,   Richard    L.,   Pinhas   Zusman 
and  H.  Reed   Sanderson :   Bit- 
terbrush  stocking  and  minimum 
spacing     with     crested     wheat- 
grass,  203-208 
Humboldt  County  :   waterfowl  area,  65 
Hypomesus  olidus:  from  Japan,  141 
Hyatt,   Harold :    The   southern   Califor- 
nia   mackerel   fishery   and    age 
composition      of      the      Pacific 
mackerel  catch  for  the  1958-59 
season,   222-227 
Hypsypops  rubicunda:  preying  on  black- 
smith eggs,  246 

I 
Icichthys     lockingtoni:     from     albacore 

stomachs,  196 
Imperial    Valley :    food    items    of   dove, 

100 
Increment,  annual :  for  albacore,  45 
Iodine  bush :  dove  habitat,  92 


Jacks,  common  names,  26 
Jenkinson  Lake :  pond  smelt  introduced, 
142 


2i>: 


CALIFORNIA  FISH  AND  GAME 


Juniper:  in  bitterbrush  study  area,  203 
Juniperus    occidentalis:    in    bitterbrush 

study    area,    203 

K 
Kern  County:  food  items  of  dove,  90-98 
Kern    River :     reward    program    for    re- 
turning tagged  trout,  10 
Killifishes:  common  names.  2." 
Kinsman      Flat:      browse      fertilization 
area,  269 

L 

Lake  Earl  :   duck  habitat,  66 

Lake     Pillsbury :     rewards     for     tagged 

trout,   11 
Lake  Talawa  :  duck  habitat,  66 
LaMarr,  William  :  retirement,  285 
Lampara    boats  :   making   sardine  catch. 

233,  235 
Lances,  sand  :  common  names.  :tl 
Lancetfishes.  common  names,  24 
Larvae  :  blacksmith,  247  ;  bluespot  goby, 

251 ;  lobster,  218 
Lebistes     reticulatus:     reproduction     in 

aquaria,  127 
Length   frequency  :   albacore,  44 
License,  angling:  estimating  purchasers, 

253 
Lion    Point  :    browse    fertilization    area. 

269 
Lizardfishes  :  common  names,  24 
Lobster,   pinto  :    new   to   California,  218 
Long  Beach  :  round  herring  caught  near, 

209 
Lonicera  interrupta:  deer  browse,  53 
Lophortyw    californica:    skeletal    differ- 
ences, 117 
Lophotus    sp. :    from  albacore    stomach, 

196 
Los    Angeles    Harbor:    mackerel    catch 

near.    223 
Louvara  :   common   name,  29 

M 

.Mackerel,  jack:  seen  during  albacore 
cruise,  186.  196 ;  with  round 
herring,  209 

.Mackerel.  Pacific:  catch  and  age, 
1958-59,  222:  with  round  her- 
ring. 209 

Mackerels  :  common  names,  28 

Madera   County:   deer   browse   study.   I>2 

Mahogany,    mountain  :    deer    browse.    ."".:! 

Mallards:   on  northwest  coast,  65 

Mantas :    common   names,   23 

Manzanita,  Mariposa:  deer  browse,  53; 
effects  of  fertilizing,  269 

}farera  americana:  on  northwest  coast, 
67 

tfareca  penelope:  on  northwest  coast, 
67 

Mead,  Rodney  :  A  method  of  distinguish- 
ing mountain  and  valley  quail 
by  skeletal  analysis,  117-121 


Melanitta  deglundi  dixoni:  on  northwest 

coast,  69 
Melanitta    perspicillata:    on    northwest 

coast,  69 
Merganser,     American  :     on     northwest 

coast,  67 
Merganser,    red-breasted :    on    northwest 
coast,  67 

M cry  us  merganser  americanus:  on  north- 
west coast,  67 
Mergus  scrrator  serrator:  on  northwest 

coast,  67 
Mesquite  :  dove  habitat,  92 
Methods :  albacore  purse  seining,  81 ; 
applying  fish  common  names, 
20  ;  browse  study,  50 ;  census- 
ing  Pismo  clams,  35  ;  collecting 
dove  crops,  95 ;  counting  sea 
lions.  228 ;  determining  alba- 
core age,  39 ;  determining  bit- 
terbrush condition,  204 ;  deter- 
mining potential  salmon  fishery 
profits,  258  ;  determining  weight 
of  ceanothus,  55 ;  distinguish- 
ing quail  by  their  skeletons, 
117-118 ;  distinguishing  thread- 
fin  shad  from  thread  herring, 
282 ;  electrophoresing  fish  eye 
lenses,  199  ;  estimating  angling 
license  purchasers,  253 ;  evalu- 
ating partyboat  records,  155 ; 
fertilizing  browse  plants,  269 ; 
fishing  for  striped  bass,  169 ; 
locating  albacore  schools,  181 ; 
observing  blacksmith  nesting, 
244 ;  observing  goby  nesting, 
250 ;  obtaining  trout  tag  re- 
turns, 6 ;  sturgeon  food  study, 
79  ;  tagging  and  marking  trout, 
(i ;  taking  oceanographic  data, 
181 ;  water  velocity  determina- 
tion, 77 

Midge:  sturgeon  food,  79 

Migrations:   ducks,  65 

Milk,  dove  :  nestling  food.  102 

Modoc  County  :   bitterbrush  plants  in, 
203 

Molas  :  common  names,  33 

Monterev    Bay  :  Mexican    scad    caught, 
210 

Morays  :  common  names,  24 

Morro  Bay  :   Pismo  clam  situation,  37 

Mullets  :  common  names,  32 

Myctophidae :      seen      during      albacore 
cruise,  186,  196 

Myctophum  ajjine:  collected  during  alba- 
core cruise,  196 

N 

Names,  common  :  reasons  for  having,  19 
Neanthes  succinea:  in  Salton  Sea,  126 
needlefishes  :  common  names,  25 
Neomy8%8  mercedis:  sturgeon  food,  79 
Nesting :  waterfowl  on   northwest  Cali- 
fornia coast,  68 


INDEX 


293 


Nets,  gill :  for  salmon  fishing,  258 
Nets,  nylon  :  cost  for  salmon  fishery,  264 
Nibblers  :  common  names,  27 
Notolepis      coruscans:      from      albacore 
stomachs,  196 


Occurrence  :  threadfin  shad  in  southern 
California  ocean  waters,  282 

Oidemia  niger  americana:  on  northwest 
coast,  67 

Olor  columbianus:  on  northwest  coast, 
67 

Opisthoneiita  liber  tat  e:  distinguished 
from  threadfin  shad,  282 

Oncorhynchus  nerka  kennerlyii:  spawn- 
ing study.  77 

Opahs  :   common  names,  25 

Grangemouth  corvina  :  in  Salton  Sea, 
127 

Oreortyx  picta:  skeletal  differences,  117 

Otoliths  :  bluespot  goby,  250 

OxyjuUs  californica:  preying  on  black- 
smith eggs,  246 

Oxyura  jamaicensis:  on  northwest  coast, 
69 


Palos  Verdes :   new  fish  collected  there, 

220 
Pdnulirus   gracilis:    new    to    California, 

218 
Panulirus    interruptus:    compared    with 

pinto  lobster.  218 
Paralabrax    clathratus:    eye    lens    pro- 
teins, 199 
Parathunnus   sibi:   caught  near   Fieber- 

ling   Guyot,  183 
Partyboat :  striped  bass  catch,  153 
Philacte  canagica:  on   northwest  coast, 

67 
Pilchard,    South    African :    pilchard    egg 

predators,  127 
I'inieloDietopoii     pulchrum:     blacksmith 

egg  predators,  246 
Pine,  ponderosa  :  in  Modoc  County,  204 
Pinus  ponderosa:  in  Modoc  County,  204 
Pipefishes  :  common  names,  25 
Pismo  Beach  :  Pismo  clam  situation,  35 
Pluehea  sericea:  dove  food,  95 
Plumas  County  :  Kokanee  salmon  study, 

77 
Pomfrets  :  common  names,  26 
Pomoxis   nigromaculatus:   in   Big   Bear 

Lake,  142 
Pompanos  :  common  names,  26 
Porgies  :  common  names,  27 
Pneumatophorus  diego:  catch  and  age  in 

1958-59,  222-227 
Potamogeton  pectinatus:  in  Lake  Earl, 

67 
Predators  :  on  blacksmith  eggs,  246  ;  on 

pilchard  eggs,  127 
Pricklebacks  :  common  names,  32 


Prosopis  juliflora:  dove  habitat,  92 
Purshia   trident  at  a:   stocking   and  spac- 
ing requirements,  203-208 

Q 

Quail,  mountain  :  skeletal  differences,  117 
Quail,  valley  :  skeletal  differences,  117 


Rabbitbrush  :  in  bitterbrush  studv  area. 
203 

Radovich,  John :  Effects  of  sardine 
spawning  stock  size  and  envi- 
ronment on  year-class  produc- 
tion, 123-140 

Rays,  eagle :  common  names,  23 

Rays,  electric  :  common  names,  22 

Recoveries :  banded  ducks,  72 ;  trout 
tags,  8 

Redberry  :  deer  browse,  53 

Reefs,  artificial :  site  of  goby  nesting. 
250 

Remoras  :  common  names,  33 

Retirement :  Richard  S.  Croker,  284 ; 
William  LaMarr,  285 

Reviews  :  All  about  camping,  287  ;  Ani- 
mal behavior,  212  ;  Animal  ecol- 
ogy, 145-146 ;  Animal  sounds 
and  communications,  85 ;  At- 
lantic Ocean  fisheries,  83 ; 
Birds  of  the  world,  146;  Cali- 
fornia desert  wildflowers,  287 ; 
Deep  sea  trawling  and  wing 
trawling,  143 ;  Dolphins,  the 
myth  and  the  mammal,  145 ; 
Fishes  of  the  Pacific  coast  of 
Canada,  286;  Illustrated  dic- 
tionary of  tropical  fishes,  287 ; 
Living  fishes  of  the  world,  83  ; 
Man  and  dolphin,  84-85 ;  Man- 
ual of  ski  mountaineering,  288  ; 
Mollusks  of  the  tropical  east- 
ern Pacific,  Panamic-Pacific 
Pelecypoda,  147-148  ;  New  Mex- 
ico birds,  85-86 ;  130  Feet  down  ; 
handbook  for  hydronauts,  148 ; 
Parasitology  of  fishes,  147 ; 
Physiology  of  Crustacea,  II, 
Sense  organs,  integration  and 
behavior,  286 ;  Porpoises  and 
sonar,  144 ;  The  Great  Barrier 
Reef  and  adjacent  isles,  S4 ; 
The  living  land,  146-147;  The 
natural  history  of  North  Amer- 
ican amphibians  and  reptiles, 
144-145  ;  The  natural  history  of 
the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedi- 
tion, 212;  The  salmon,  143; 
Things  to  do  in  science  and  con- 
servation, 84 

Rhamnus  crocea  ilicifolia:  deer  browse, 
53 

Ribbonfishes  :  common  names,  25 


294 


CALIFORNIA   FISH   AND   GAME 


Ripley,  Wm.  Ellis,  K.  W.  Cox  and  J.  L. 
Baxter  :  California  sea  lion  cen- 
sus for  1958,  1960  and  1961, 
228-231 

Roccus  saxatilis:  California  sportfisherv, 
153 

Rockfishes  :  common  names,  29 

Roedel,  Phil  M. :  The  names  of  certain 
marine  fishes  of  California,  19 

Round  herring,  Pacific:  catch  off  Long 
Beach,  209 


Sablefishes,  common  names.  31 
Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Delta  :  striped 

bass  fishery,  153 
Sagebrush,    big :    in    bitterbrush    study 

area,  203 
Salmo    gairdnerii:    tagging,    6 ;    require- 
ments in  Japan, 141 
Salmon,  kokanee  :  spawning  study,  77 
Salmon  :  potential  profits  in  fishery,  256 
Salmons  :  common  names,  24 
Saltbush  :  dove  habitat,  92 
Salton  Sea  :  threadfin  shad  from,  282 
Sanderson,  H.  Reed :  see  Hubbard,  Zus- 

man  and  Sanderson,  203-208 
San  Diego  formation  :  fossil  goby  otoliths 

found,  250 
San  Diego :  pinto  lobster  taken,  218 
San  Francisco  Bay :  striped  bass  fishery, 

169 
San  Joaquin  County  :  sturgeon  study,  79 
San  Luis  Obispo  County  :  food  items  of 

dove,  99-100 
San  Pablo  Bay  :  striped  bass  fishery,  163 
Santa  Catalina  Island  :  blacksmiths  nest- 
ing, 243 
Santa  Monica  :  nesting  gobies  seen,  250 
Sardine,  Pacific :  age  and  length  in  1959- 
60,    232;    catastrophic   decline, 
123 ;   fish  egg  predators,  127 
Sardinops   caerulea:   age  and   length   in 
1959-60,  232;  catastrophic  de- 
cline,  123;    fish  egg  predators, 
127 
Saury,    Pacific:     seen    during    albacore 

cruise,  186,  196 
Sauries:  common  names,  25 
Scad,  Mexican:  at  Monterey  Bay,  210 
Scads:  common  names,  26 
Scales:  for  aging  albacore,  39 
Scirpus  americanus:  in  Lake  Earl,  67 
Scirpus  acutus:  in  Lake  Earl,  67 
Schreiber,  Max  R.:  Observations  on  the 
food   habits   of   juvenile    white 
sturgeon,  79-80 
Schultz,  A.  M.:  see  Gibbens  and  Schultz, 

49-64 
Scoter,   American :   on  northwest  coast, 

67 
Scoter,  surf:  on  northwest  coast,  69 
Scoter,      white-winged:      on      northwest 
coast,  69 


Sculpins:  common  names.  31 

Sea  basses:  common  names,  25 

Sea  chubs:  common  names,  27 

Sea  lion:  California:  census,  228 

Sea  lion,  Steller:  census,  228 

Seamount,  Davidson:  bluespot  goby,  250 

Seamount,   San  Juan :   albacore  caught, 

82 
Searobins:  common  names,  31 
Seiners,    purse:    making    sardine    catch, 

233,  235 
Seining,  purse:  for  albacore,  81 
Senorita:    preying    on    blacksmith    eggs, 

246 
Shad,  threadfin  :   in  southern  California 

waters,  282 
Sharks,  angel:  common  names,  22 
Sharks,  cat:  common  names,  21 
Sharks,  cow:  common  names,  21 
Sharks,  dogfish:  common  names,  22 
Sharks,  frill:  common  names,  21 
Sharks,    hammerhead :    common    names, 

22 
Sharks,  horn:  common  names,  21 
Sharks,  mackerel:  common  names,  21 
Sharks,  requiem:  common  names,  21 
Sharks,  whale:  common  names,  21 
Shaver,  John  A.:  Purse  seining  for  Pa- 
cific albacore,  81-82 
Sheephead:  blacksmith  egg  predator,  246 
Shrubs:    factors    affecting    growth,    49 ; 

utilization  by  deer,  56 
Silversides:  common  names,  32 
Skates  :  common  names,  22 
Skeletal  analysis  :  quail,  117-121 
Sleeper,  Pacific  fat :  new  to  California, 

220 
Smelt,  pond :  from  Japan,  141-142 
Smelts :  common  names,  24 
Smith,    Albert    C. :    The   electrophoretic 
characteristics       of       albacore, 
bluefin  tuna  and  kelp  bass  eye 
lens  proteins,  199-201 
Source  Point :  burn,  58 
Spaulding  Reservoir :   pond  smelt  intro- 
duced, 142 
Spawning :  Kokanee  salmon,  78 
Squaretails  :  common  names,  32 
Squid :  seen  during  albacore  cruise,  196 
St.  Catherines  Bay  :  new  sea  urchin  col- 
lected, 216 
Sticklebacks :  common  names,  25 
Stingrays :  common  names,  23 
Stone  Lagoon  :  duck  habitat,  66 
Striped    bass:     California     sportfisherv, 

153-177 
Sturgeons :  common  names,  23 
Sturgeon,  white  :  food  habits,  79 
Suaeda  spp. :  dove  food,  95 
Suisun  Bay  :  striped  bass  fishery,  171 
Surfperches  :  common  names,  27 
Survey,  postcard  :  striped  bass,  172 
Swan,  whistling:  on  northwest  coast,  67 
Swordfishes :  common  names,  29 


INDEX 


295 


Tag :  recognizing  on  fish,  8 ;  comparison 
of  returns  from  trout,  8-9 ;  re- 
tention by  anglers,  9 ;  reward 
for  returning,  10 ;  striped  bass 
returns,  173 ;  type  used  on 
trout,  14 

Tagging  :  salmon,  259  ;  shrubs,  56  ;  twigs, 
269 

Tamarix  aphylla:  dove  nesting  tree,  95 

Tarletonbeania  crenularis:  collected  dur- 
ing albacore  cruise,  196 

Tarpons  :  common  names,  23 

Teal,  blue-winged :  on  northwest  coast, 
68 

Teal,  cinnamon :  on  northwest  coast,  68 

Teal,  green-winged  :  on  northwest  coast, 
69 

Tetragonurus  sp. :  from  albacore  stom- 
achs, 196 

Thomas,  James  C. :  The  occurrence  and 
distinction  of  threadfin  shad  in 
southern-  California  ocean  wa- 
ters, 282-283 

Th  annus  germo:  aging,  39  ;  eye  lens  pro- 
teins, 199 ;  preseason  survey, 
1960,  179-198;  taken  by  purse 
seiners,  81 

Thunnus  saliens:  eye  lens  proteins,  199 

Tilefishes  :  common  names,  26 

Timms  Point :  fossil  goby  otoliths  found, 
250 

Toadfishes  :  common  names,  33 

Tonguefishes  :  common  names,  33 

Trachurus  symmetricus:  seen  during  al- 
bacore cruise,  186, 196 

Triggerfishes  :  common  names,  33 

Trout,  brown :  spawning  with  kokanee 
salmon,  77 

Trout,  rainbow  :  requirements  in  Japan, 
141 ;  tagging  methods,  6 

Trouts  :  common  names,  24 

Tunicates :  seen  during  albacore  cruise, 
196 

Tuna,  bigeye :  caught  near  Fieberling 
Guyot,  183 

Tuna,  bluefin  :  eye  lens  proteins,  199 

Tunas :  common  names,  28 


Turner,  Charles  H.  and  E.  E.  Ebert :  The 
nesting  of  Chromis  punctipinnis 
(Cooper)  and  a  description  of 
their  eggs  and  larvae,  243-248 

Turner,  C.  H. :  see  Ebert  and  Turner, 
249-252 

u 

Underwood   soil   series :   for  classifying 

soil,  204 
Urchin,  club-spined :  new  to  California, 

216 

V 
Velella  lata:  seen  during  albacore  cruise, 

187 
Vertebrae  :  for  aging  albacore,  39 
Vinciguerria    nimbai'ia:    from    albacore 

stomachs,  196 

w 

Wales,  Joseph  H. :  Introduction  of  pond 
smelt  from  Japan  into  Califor- 
nia, 141-142 

Waterfowl :  banding  at  Humboldt  Bay, 
69 ;  importance  of  California 
northwest  coastal  areas,  65-76  ; 
recoveries  of  banded,  72-75 

Weed,  noxious  :  utilization  bv  doves,  100- 
102 

Wheatgrass,  crested  :  planted  with  bitter- 
brush,  203-20S 

Whitethorn,  chaparral :  deer  browse,  53 

Widgeon,  American  :  on  northwest  coast, 
67 

Widgeon,  European  :  on  northwest  coast, 
67 

Wolffishes  :  common  names,  32 

Wrasses  :  common  names,  28 

Worm,  polychaete  :  in  Salton  Sea,  126 


Yocom,  Charles  F.  and  Eley  P.  Denson, 
Jr. :  Importance  of  northwest 
coastal  California  to  water- 
fowl, 65-76 


Zalophus  calif  or  nianus:  census,  228 
Zenaidura  macroura:  food  habits,  91 
Zostera  marina:  as  duck  food,  67 
Zusman,  Pinhas:  see  Hubbard,  Zusman 
and  Sanderson,  203-208 


69171      7-62      5,300 


printed  in  California  state  printing  office 


Notice  is  hereby  given,  pursuant  to  Section  206  of  the  Fish 
and  Game  Code,  that  the  Fish  and  Game  Commission  shall 
meet  on  October  5,  1962  at  9:30  a.m.  in  the  Employment 
Building,  722  Capitol  Avenue,  Sacramento,  California,  to 
receive  recommendations  from  its  own  officers  and  employees, 
from  the  Department  of  Fish  and  Game  and  other  public 
agencies,  from  organizations  of  private  citizens,  and  from  any 
interested  person  as  to  what,  if  any,  regulations  should  be  made 
relating  to  fish,  amphibia,  and  reptiles,  or  any  species  or 
subspecies  thereof. 

FISH  AND  GAME  COMMISSION 
Monica  O'Brien,  Secretary 


Notice  is  hereby  given,  in  accordance  with  Section  206  of  the 
Fish  and  Game  Code,  that  the  Fish  and  Game  Commission  shall 
meet  on  December  7,  1962  at  9:30  a.m.  in  Room  115,  State 
Building,  217  West  First  Street,  Los  Angeles,  California,  to  hear 
and  consider  any  objections  to  its  determinations  and  proposed 
regulations  in  relation  to  fish,  amphibia,  and  reptiles  for  the 
1963  angling  season,  such  determinations  and  orders  resulting 
from  hearing  held  on  October  5,  1962. 

FISH  AND  GAME  COMMISSION 
Monica  O'Brien,  Secretary